Oh What A Beautiful Dream! And Afterstory
by Totenwelt
Summary: What if Taiga recognized Ryuuji when he went looking for her in the forest in Episode 21? What butterfly effect would that have on the rest of the story? (I have decided to include Afterstory with this, Afterstory starts after part 9) [Note i don't own Toradora, any characters used in this story, or the picture that i used for the cover]
1. Chapter 1 - Dream

**(FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS PART IF YOU JUST WANT TO READ THE STORY, BUT I WOULD REALLY APRECIATE IF YOU WOULD READ THIS)**

Hello! My name is Totenwelt, And this is my fanfiction of Toradora, based off of alternate reality i made where Taiga recognizes Ryuuji during the arc where the class is on a trip to the mountains, It's basically me retelling the last few episodes of the anime, i really love Toradora and i wanted to show my appreciation to the anime/manga, and because i can't draw i decided i would go with a fanfiction. Anyways i plan to make like 4-5 chapters of this fanfiction to really wrap up the story to where it ended in the anime/manga. BUT if you folks like it enough i'll do a follow up to this story in a form of an after story once i'm done with this story, though i might take a break or i might write something different for a change since there are quite a few animes i want to cover fanfiction wise, though no telling yet what it will be or if it will happen in the first place. Also i' m gonna be uploading a new chapter every 2-3 days (hopefully i'm nor extremly busy), so be ready to get like 2-3 chapters per week. Also reviews and constructive criticism are always welcomed, i'm far from a good writer, but i do want to get better to deliver a better experience to you folks, anyways enough of my rambling for now, if you want to hear more of me rambling check the last chapter, i'll keep it as a Note to write updates on the story. Anyhow i hope you'll enjoy this story - Totenwelt

**(STORY BEGINS HERE)**

It was a dark, dreadful snowy night on the mountains somewhere in Japan, the air whistled and snowed fell violently, the night was full of tension and drama seeping from everyone and everything. Every living conscious person in the arena was either in a lodge trying to hide away from the cold and darkness or seeking it's refuge, or perhaps even trying to get help from said lodge. All but a one boy, he was a tall and dangerous looking boy, but with a kind heart at that, though his heart was full of regret, sadness and anger at himself for failing.

He stood at the edge of the hill where a red barricade was torn down, it lead down the hill into the dark and unwelcoming snow covered forest, there was trail that was barely visible because it was snowing so hard, normally he wouldn't be sure if the thing or a person he was looking for was there, but a shiny hair pin was glancing down the hill, it shone harder than the beautiful whiteness of the snow, He knew he was at the right place, he was determined to find the person he was looking for, was it a friend to him? Or perhaps something more? He wasn't sure anymore, but he cared about that person so much he kept on pushing down the hill.

He began climbing down slowly but surely as not to fall down the steep hill that was covered in snow and rocks as well as he supported himself by grabbing onto the cold trees "I did it again..." The boy said to himself, images of how he left that person alone again filled his mind, it made his heart even more heavier with regret and pain, it pushed him down the hill to redeem himself for all the things he did, and didn't do.

"...i left her all alone, she was right next to me and i didn't even notice she was gone" another memory popped up of his friends fighting about something, they slapped each other, but his another friend and him were able to hold both of them down, or so he thought as a blue haired tall girl slipped from under his hold and slapped the red haired female friend so hard her hair pin flew out that was in her hair. The person he was looking suddenly vanished from his sight in flurry of the fight to collect the hair in that flew out of one of the friend's hair he deducted, That hairpin was important to both him and the red haired female friend, but it wasn't worth getting lost for he thought. The thought of him being so blind to not see the person he was looking for made him feel stupid and worthless, causing him further regret and pain at heart.

He very slowly walked over to the tree where the hair pin was lying at, he picked it up gently, it shone even more beautifully up close than it did from the distance, but he had no thoughts for that, instead he only focused on getting to the person who went out and almost died because of him and her friend.

"dammit...she's such a klutz, if i find her, i swear i'll never let go of her again" he thought as he gritted his teeth and looked everywhere around him to find her, but due to her size that was quite hard, but in the matter of a few seconds he recognized the color of her ski outfit lying in the snow, he was so relieved, he screamed "Taiga!" very loudly, relief quickly rushed over him that he found her, he started running towards to check if she's okay, he made it to her side at last as he plowed the snow away from her body, her goggles now covered in a blood stood next to the boy as he shook the little girl's body "Taiga?" he asked, but got no response, "Taiga! Wake up!" he shouted as he shook her lifeless body more violently with tears welling up his eyes that he wasn't fast enough to save her.

"eh, what happened?" she groaned softly, relief once again striked him that she was okay, so much so he smiled and hugged her tightly, he realized she was very cold so he had to act fast also not to mention battle was only half way won, he still needed to get up the hill, it was hard to get down there alone, it would be even harder for him to carry Taiga's dead weight all the way up to the hill, but he needed to do it, for her.

So he wasted no time, he picked he cold body gently on his back and he began walking up the hill he came from, halfway to the top Taiga's eyes opened again as she became conscious again

"Ryuuji?" She asked softly as she wrapped her hands around him to a reverse hug

"Yeah" Ryuuji whispered back to her as he nodded to let her know.

The snow and the air died down drastically, it all seemed like a straight path to the top.

"You're always the one who comes to my rescue" she whispered in Ryuuji's ear as he came to a stop to listen to her because he wouldn't able to hear her with all the rustling him he makes when he walked

"Hey, Ryuuji this is a dream right?" she asked him softly as he closed her eyes again, Ryuuji stood there silent, he didn't knew what to do, He wanted to tell her that it was real, but he didn't wanted to cause her anymore pain than she already was in, so he decided he would lie, of course he didn't thought anything of it

"Yeah it is" he replied with a whisper to her, she smiled after hearing that

"Oh, i see well i have something i want to tell you then Ryuuji" she believed that it was all just a dream in her head, so she wasn't afraid to say how she really felt. On the other hand, Ryuuji started sweating heavily, because he felt like he might have started something bad, so he stayed silent to hear what she had to say

"I really want these feelings to go away, to make me stronger, because i'm hopeless. I just can't... stop loving you Ryuuji" she whispered in his ear with slight hesitation as she closed her eyes again, Ryuuji's world just stopped for a long while, so many questions and thoughts ran across his mind, like why? When did she started having feelings for him? How will it affect their friendship?

But instead of all these questions the words that escaped his mouth was "I can't stop loving you too Taiga" it was the truth, he just didn't see it, but his heart felt it for a while, he wanted to be around her because how much she meant to him, how well she balanced him out, how she cared about him, all that and more slowly but surely built up the love for her, he still had feelings for Minorin but he felt way more connected, way deeper love to Taiga than he ever did to Minorin, it was as if he felt just attraction to Minorin, but he felt true love towards Taiga, and as it seemed it was same for her.

Then in the midst of his mind wondering to a different dimension with all the thinking he was doing Taiga interrupted him by simply smiling and saying "Oh, what a beautiful dream, too bad it's only that" she closed her eyes and her hands slided off Ryuuji's body, when he noticed that he screamed "Wait Taiga!" but it was too late, she passed out, he put her from his back to his hand princess style because at the end of the day she was his princess.

He finally made it to the top of the hill where all the teachers were standing alongside most of the students, namely Minorin, Kushieda and Ami. Everyone was relief that they were both okay, they rushed over to both of them, teachers asked what happened, and if she's okay, same went with the students, except for Minorin who gave a thumbs up with tears in her eyes and then she uncharacteristically ran away crying, Ryuuji wanted to ask what's wrong, but he couldn't as he was swarmed by atleast 20 people.

Fast forward about an hour later.

Everyone was about to go to sleep as it was getting close to midnight and teachers told students to be in bed in a few minutes. Kushieda and Ami stood by the guest room in the lodge which now acted as a makeshift sickbed for Taiga.

"Hey, i wonder if they're okay, I'm still worried about both of them." Kitamura said as he cleaned his glasses with a hankerchief

Ami nodded to that, "Well, i believe they'll be okay, whenever they are together they always make it through" she said with a painful smile, as if she was hiding a lot of pain underneath the happy facade she always does

"Yeah that's true, though i wonder where Kushieda went, noone seen her after we went looking for Takasu and Aisaka to the hill" Kitamura noted Minorin's disappearance, just hearing that made Ami turn her nose away in disgust and hatred towards Kushieda

"Well, i don't. It was her mistake that Aisaka got hurt badly, on top of hurting Takasu, you know she deserved to be in Aisaka's spot" Ami said with anger in her voice, it all made her hate Minorin even more than she already did.

Kitamura turned to her with a disapproving look on his face

"Well, it wasn't her fault that Aisaka went looking for her hair pin, besides who slapped the hair pin out if her hair in the first place?" He scolded Ami, she looked down in embarrassment and regret that she caused it as much if not more than Minorin, though she had a good reason to fight her, but noone other than her and Minorin would get it.

"Look, let's just stop blaming each other okay? It won't do any good, anyways we should get to our rooms, the teachers are about to check soon if everyone is there" Kitamura said as he pointed towards the two rooms that were on the other side of the hall they were standing at

"Yeah you're right i suppose, it's pretty late" Ami sighed and nodded in defeat as they started to walk towards the two rooms that they were going to sleep at.

The hall was a long with windows covering the left wall, It was even darker than ever before outside of the windows, and snow was so thick outside that if someone would go outside they would be buried in snow up their ankles.

Ami stared outside the window as she and Kitamura walked in the hall.

"Say, Ami i'm kinda interested about something you said just a minute ago" Kitamura broke the silence, Kawashima turned towards him and her eyebrow got raised after hearing that sentence

"Sure Yusaku, what is it?" Ami asked him back, not thinking much of it.

Kitamura stopped about halfway down the hall, shortly there after she stopped as well to turn to him.

"Say, when you were talking about what Kushieda did, you mentioned her hurting Aisaka, you feel sorry for her? I thought you two hated each other's guts, did you two finally made up?" Kitamura asked Kawashima whilst adjusting his glasses, Ami looked down away from his gaze

"No, not really, I envy her is all" Ami said as he out on quite the sad face, but immediately she turned away from Kitamura.

"But oh what am i saying, i wouldn't want to be in poor Aisaka's state she's in" Ami put her fake happy facade on again and put her hand in the air to gesture to add on the 'happy go lucky' facade she made.

Kitamura raised his eyebrow at what she meant

"Why would you envy Aisaka, Ami?" Kitamura once again asked not moving from his spot

Kawashima put her gesturing hand down and went silent for a little while

"... You wouldn't get it" she said with in her serious tone, more silence filled the hallway

"I think i do though..." He said as he slowly walked up to Kawashima and put a hand on her shoulder, she did not expected that and thus she flinched a little

"...but if you're going down that path i would do it fast, i bet you aren't the only one who's after him" Kitamura whispered to Ami, upon hearing that she blushed a bit and put on a sad grin

"I wish, but i might already too late" she whispered as she started walking towards the rooms again causing Kitamura's hand to slide off her shoulder.

Then she turned towards him again

"Well, anyways i'm calling it a night. Goodnight Yusaku" she waved as he turned out once again and started walking to the room where the female students slept

"Goodnight Ami" Kitamura said to Kawashima who disappeared to the room where she and the rest of the female students were sleeping, he stayed a bit to look out the window wondering where did Kushieda go, but then he let it go since he knew she was somewhere near, and not in a danger, but still he worried for his friend. But he had no choice but to call it a day as well, so he did just that and walked off to the male bedroom to go to sleep.

On the other end of the corridor, inside the dark guest room Taiga was lying (unconscious) Takasu and a teacher who overlooked the trip were arguing silently, so that they wouldn't wake up Taiga.

"Please teacher let me be here for her until tomorrow, I won't do anything to her i swear, I just want to look over her for the night, Please let me stay here" Ryuuji pleaded with the teacher badly. it wasn't that the teacher was extremely against it, actually she was glad he wanted to stay here so that no teacher would have to check on every once in a while, but she felt really bad for him, because there was no other bed besides the one Aisaka was sleeping at, only thing close to it was a chair near the bed, but as everyone knows sleeping on a wooden chair is pretty hard.

The teacher put a palm to her face and nodded disapprovingly

"Are you sure you wanna be here Takasu? After all you won't be able to sleep anywhere during the night if you spend it here with Aisaka" She reminded Ryuuji about the obvious problem

He looked at her, stood up which kinda scared the teacher because he had quite the scary determined face

"I know, but i still want to be here for her, i need to after leaving her all alone again" he said as he turned to the sleeping tiger with a sad expression on his face.

The teacher wanted to reach out to him, but decided not to.

"You know Takasu, You can stay here, I won't try to make you leave anymore because i know it would pointless because you're very determined to stay here aren't you? Well, if you do change your mind you can go back to the boys bedroom, but i'll shut the lights off so if you do change your mind take a flashlight on your phone, and please don't wake anyone up" The teacher gave in, Ryuuji simply nodded to what the teacher said and kept on watching Taiga.

She turned around and walked out of the pitch black room, she turned once again the other way to close the door to the guest room both of Taiga and Ryuuji were in, she took one long look at Ryuuji sitting in the chair stressed out about his lover, or maybe she wasn't his lover, the teacher did not know, but she felt sorry for the boy, the sight of him sitting and watching over taiga was wierdky enough a bit sad, "The boy sure has it tough" she though as she closed the door, walked to the middle of the hall to the switches that controlled the power to the lights across the lodge, turned it off and went to look if everyone is sleeping.

Ryuuji still sat at the chair looking at Taiga with so many thoughts in his mind, Are they a couple now? Did she said it just because she was out of it? Since when did she started love me? And many, many, many more. But no answer to any of those question, all he could do was patiently wait for her to wake up and to ask her herself, which made him restless and impatient, he just wanted answers to his question. He dropped to his knees besides the bed, he rested his upper body on the bit of a bed that Taiga wasn't on. He saw Taiga's little hand peaking from underneath, he really wanted to hold it, he couldn't help himself, he took her tiny and held it with wis own, the warmth of her hand reassured him that everything will be okay, he relaxed because of it, it He wasn't stressed anymore, it made him genuienly happy. he smilled as he rested his head on the mat Taiga was sleeping on, he was so happy he started to tear up a bit. He finally found the love of his life he was looking for, and it made him so happy that it was Taiga. His mind became more and moze hazy, but in a good way. Only happy thought were in his mind instead the stressfull thoughts he had for the most of today, his mind begun to fade to the magical skies of dreams, and with that he passed out.

End of Chapter 1 - Dream


	2. Chapter 2 - Confrotation

**SKIP THIS IF YOU'RE ONLY INTERESTED IN THE STORY**

Hello, Totenwelt here! i decided i would include my notes and all that stuff under the story rather than making new chapters just for that, so if you want to read my progression of stuff (i will add every day some new note about my progress, etc.)

By the way, i'm most likely gonna extend this fanfiction to about 7-10 chapters, maybe more maybe less, i didn't realized that it's gonna take me more chapters to truly wrap up the story. Also i apologize for mixing uo Kushieda and Kitamura a few times during last chapter, it should be edited by the time you're reding this.

Also, next chapter is gonna full of fluff, so be ready!

**SHOUT OUT**

Shout out to all people who read my story, seeing so many people reading what i write really makes me happy and overall motivates me to make the best for you all.

Also a special shout out to the person who left a review (they didn't had an account from what i understood) , thank you from the bottom of my heart for liking my story. Reviews like that push me to make the best i can do.

**STORY BEGINS HERE**

The dawn broke over the snowy mountains as it shined on the beautiful white snow that formed during blizzard the night before. It was a bright, beautiful day outside, so much so that students who weren't packing their bags to go home went out for one last ride on the mountain where the whole incident with Taiga happened.

The beam of sunlight very slowly but surely made it's way to sleeping Taiga's face who was still sound asleep under her cover from what happened to her. She lied still how she got pulled into the bed with Ryuuji who still held her hand and was crouching by her bed with his upper body lying on the bed still sleeping as well, she slowly opened her eyes and was hit by unwelcoming bright light coming from the window which blinded her for a good second. In an instinct she held her hand to shield her eyes from the bright light. After quite a few seconds she got used to the light Taiga rubbed her eyes with her free hand as she yawned softly. Her head was hurting like hell, and she had no recollection of what happened yesterday.

Taiga sat up on her bed just raising her upper body upwards, she looked around her room to the left and suddenly realized that she was in a room she did not recognized which freaked her out somewhat.

Taiga looked towards the window that was right next to her to look for clues at to why was she there and why her head hurt so much. Outside of the window were people skiing, and snowboarding on the mountain, suddenly she remembered all that happened to her.

She was holding Minorin from fighting the dumb chivavua, but Kawashima got from Ryuuji's hold and punched Minorin straight in the face, the hairpin that Ryuuji bought for Minorin went flying, she went to get it but slipped, and fell on something hard and then darkness. The next thing she remembered was being on Ryuuji's back, getting carried somewhere.

She was knocked out hard, so much so she thought she was in a dream, because it felt like it was, it was too perfect. She didn't had her "tsundere" attitude, she was genuine with her feelings, so she told Ryuuji that she loves him, and he said that he loves her back. Just the thought of that made her red as a tomato. It was no dream, it really happened.

So many emotions hit her like a tsunami. She felt happy, loved, sad, betrayed, and unworthy. But most importantly she felt like she betrayed Minorin. She couldn't handle all these feelings at the same time, so she started to bawl her eyes out uncontrollably.

Her sobbing woke up Ryuuji. Taiga suddenly heard Ryuuji rustle next to her on the bed, she turned towards him. Another shock hit her, He was there all along for her, holding her hand and not even sleeping in a bed to make sure she was okay. It made all the feelings she felt even more intense. She didn't wanted to see the person she loved the most see her so weak, so she decided to run away from her room to not be seen.

Taiga very quickly got up from her bed separating her hand from Ryuuji's, and she started running away towards the door. Ryuuji was in shock as well because he had no idea was happening, he was still half asleep as she dashed by him. He did not knew why, but Taiga was running away for some reason. Maybe it was because Taiga needed to go to the toilet, but then why would she sniffle and cry?

Takasu decided he would run after Taiga to find out what happened. He stood up and dashed right out of the doors. He took a look around the now well lit hall, there were quite a lot students from other classes walking around, preparing to go home. It was so crowded that he couldn't find Taiga anywhere.

Then he saw a glimmer of someone her size, with the same outfit she was wearing disappearing quickly behind the corner, he deducted that it must be her, so he started running like he never did before after her.

Because of that he bumped into quite a few people as he ran, he shouted sorry everytime he did, though that didn't stopped from people either shouting something back at him or giving him wierd looks. He bumped so much that at one point he lost balance and tripped, everyone turned towards him to see what happened.

One of those people was Ami Kawashima, who was about to go check on him and the tiger. She quickly rushed over to him to check if he was okay

"Hey Takasu, are you okay? What happened?" Ami said in her fake facade since everyone was still looking at them, she helped him get up by picking his arm

Everyone turned away from the two of them and got back to doing their business.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for helping, but i have to run, sorry Kawashima" Ryuuji said to her as he got up and immediately started to run again after Taiga.

"Wait!" Kawashima shouted as she grabbed Takasu's wrist, which cocked him back a bit, sending his momentum to a halt.

Ami knew exactly what was happening. She saw Aisaka running by her crying and trying to hide her face, it all made sense... Taiga fired the first shot.

"What?" Ryuuji uncharacteristically shouted at Kawashima, she looked at him with sad expression with puppy eyes

"Please Takasu, don't run like this. You're gonna hurt yourself again, and i don't want that" She wasn't lying, though she had ulterior motive, she wanted to slow him down so that he would lose track of her.

"I'm really sorry Kawashima, But i have to go, i'll see you around" Takasu said as he started to run again, she freed her hold of his wrist. She wanted to keep holding it desperately, so he wouldn't run off to her and be with her, but she let his wrist be because she couldn't stop him even if she wanted to, he was blinded by love.

"Okay, I'll see you around then" she said in a serious tone with a hint of sadness coming from her voice, she was hurt by him abandoning her for Taiga a lot. She turned around and started walking to meet her friends

"I know i said i'll watch from far away, but i can't bare it anymore. Aisaka is only gonna hurt him, and i don't want that to happened, and i want him to be mine, no i need him to be mine, he's the only person who seen me for who i really am. But that dumb Aisaka went ahead and fired the first shot, And now he's gonna fall more and more for her and then she's gonna hurt him. I swear, I'll make him mine, so that she's not gonna hurt him, i'll do it anyway i can, All is fair in love and war after all." Ami thought to herself silently as she gritted her teeth, she was gonna make him love her one way or the other.

"Hey Ami, There you are! Let's have some fun whilst we're still on trip!" Both of her friends shouted towards her, breaking her out of her thought.

"Hey girls, Sure let's go have some fun!" though Ami had no intention of having fun, instead she continued to think about what she's gonna do, but she put on her fake facade to deal with her friends in the mean time. She took one last look at Ryuuji who was still running after her and sighed.

Taiga ran as fast as she could so Ryuuji wouldn't see her, she saw him running after her so she ran even faster to get away, she ran behind a corner and into the women's bathroom which was right next to her. Taiga went in as quick as she could, it was empty so she decided she would stay, plus she didn't had much choice because she was almost out of breath. Taiga walked to a giant mirror that was on the wall of the bathroom, there she took a good look at herself, she was a crying, emotional mess. She didn't knew if it was the right thing to do or not anymore now that she calmed down a bit, but she still did it.

She ran away from him, making him worried and probably upset.

"Oh god, Why did i ran away? Ryuuji must hate me now" the sudden realization of how much she screwed up by running away instead of facing him dawned on her.

It made her cry even more, she didn't had enough strength to stand up so she just dropped to her knees crying even more

Someone was creeping behind Aisaka, but she didn't noticed it because she was still crying like crazy.

That person very slowly came up to her as Taiga kept on crying her eyes out. That person knelt by her, and tightly reverse hugged her.

Taiga froze in her place, she was so shocked that she completely stopped crying for a second, she turned her teary face around to see who was hugging her. It was non other than Minorin Kushieda, her best friend, and a person who Ryuuji loved.

"M-Minorin?" Aisaka shouted as she got up and turned around to hug her normally.

"It's okay Taiga, Tell me what happened?" Minorin asked her best friend, Taiga was overcomed by joy, atleast her best friend was here to comfort her, though she was embarrasses that she had to see her like this

"Oh thank god you're here, I screwed up so badly, i-i-i..." Taiga couldn't say it, she was too overcomed by emotions again, she wanted to cry like she did before when her mind went over what she did again, so much so her face started to get teary again.

"Taiga, what did you do?" Minorin pushed her further, she wanted to know the answer, even if it hurt her, she wanted to know to help her best friend.

"I-I ran away from Ryuuji, after telling him yesterday that i... " Taiga stopped herself, she wanted to say it, but she remembered she wanted them to be together, to both of them to be happy.

And here she was about to say that she confessed her love to Takasu the night before, so she couldn't do it. She looked down and didn't said a word, instead she started to cry again. She decided she would push her happiness and love by her side if it meant both Minorin and Ryuuji would be happy.

Minorin released herself from the hug and got some space between both her and Taiga, who was still looking down and crying

"Taiga, tell me what happened" Minorin pushed Taiga even further, she grabbed her shoulders and started waving her lightly, Taiga still didn't told her, and continued to look down and cry.

Minorin was about to cry as well, she started to shake her shoulders violently

"Please, i beg you. Tell me what did you do" Minorin couldn't take it anymore and she started to cry just like Aisaka did. Minorin's tears hit the bathroom floor like rain hitting ground. When Taiga saw the sight of that she couldn't take it anymore, she had to tell her the truth atleast.

"I-I confessed my love to him!" Taiga yelled at Minorin who let go of her shoulders and simply lowered her head, with her red bangs covering her face. Minorin didn't reply, so Taiga continued talking.

"But i thought it was a dream, and now i feel guilty because i promised myself i would get you and Ryuuji together" Taiga said as she cried again even more than she did before

"It's because i want you to be happy" Taiga continued, but she still had no answer. Aisaka put her hands on Kushieda's shoulder to comfort her. Minorin shrugged Taiga's hands off of her shoulders.

And then, she slapped Taiga out of nowhere.

Taiga was completely caught off guard, she didn't expected Minorin to slap her like that, so much so that she fell on the green cube pattern ground of the bathroom. She instinctively held her hand on the spot where she got slapped. Taiga looked back to Minorin to see her best friend crying again but with face full of anger and eyebrows twitching extremely violently

"Don't give me that, Because i'm not gonna let you or anyone else decide what makes me happy!" Minorin yelled at Taiga, who was still in shock from what happened, why did her best friend slap her like that?

"Are you really gonna throw away the one thing that you want?" Kushieda continued to yell at Aisaka, She didn't wanted to admit it, but she was right, so Taiga tried to get up and run away from the bathroom because she couldn't face Minorin the same way she couldn't face Ryuuji and most importantly her feelings. Unfortunately for her Minorin caught her hand which she held on to tightly. Taiga tried to escape her hold, but she couldn't

"Are you gonna run away again or are you gonna face your feelings and him like a grown up!" Minorin yelled at Taiga once again. Taiga didn't wanted to hear it, she was right though. Taiga couldn't face her feelings so she ran away

Taiga tried desperately to get out of her hold, she tugged as hard she could, but Kushieda didn't let go of her.

"Let go of me!" Taiga screeched to Minorin, but instead of letting her go she threw her against a door of a bathroom stall and held her hands tightly by the door

"Listen to me Taiga! I gave up on my feelings for Ryuuji just so you can be happy with him, so please stop running away from it, and just face your feelings towards him! " Minorin screamed as she put her face close to Taigas, so much so that Minorin's and Taiga's tears were both falling on their shoes.

Taiga couldn't look her in the eyes, she wasn't strong enough. She only looked down and cried even more than she did before.

"Look at me Taiga! It's me! Minorin, your best friend! So please, just do it for me Taiga" Her best friend begged her to confront her feelings for Ryuuji. Minorin pushed herself more than she did ever before, and it was taking a toll on her mentally. Taiga felt it, so she looked her in the eyes and whispered softly

"Okay, I will Minorin. I'm sorry for running away from my feelings" Taiga said with tears still coming out from her eyes as Minorin let go of her.

Minorin hugged her best friend again, this time they both stopped crying, they just wanted to comfort each other.

"It's okay, I'm sorry for hitting you, and thank you Taiga" Minorin whispered into her ear as she smiled

Kushieda pushed Aisaka away from her after that

"Now go and find him and tell him how you really feel! You can do it!" Minorin said as raised her hand into a fist with her lucky go happy attitude

Taiga smiled back at her

"Yeah, I will Minorin. Thank you for convincing me to confront my feelings, i couldn't do it without your help." Taiga said as she wiped her tears away with her shirt

Minorin was bright as a sun again

"No problemo Taigarino, I'm gonna be rooting for you!" Minorin beamed at Taiga once again with her happy go lucky attitude

Aisaka waved her goodbye as she prepared to go out the door. Taiga quickly disappeared as she walked out the bathroom.

"I did it" Minorin said to herself as she collapsed to her knees and broke down crying.

Taiga opened the door of the bathroom and got out, there she saw now empty hall, well it other than Ryuuji looking all around him for her. Takasu noticed Taiga right away, and so he ran towards her

"Hey are you okay? What happened Taiga?" Ryuuji shouted at her as he had a very worried look on his face, he crouched down to see if she was okay

Taiga simply smiled, came up to him and hugged him

"Yeah, everything is fine Ryuuji, I just had to face my feelings is all" Taiga said as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of being close to the one she loved the most

"W-Whoa, Taiga?" Ryuuji was caught off guard, of all things for her to do he did not expected Taiga to hug him, he turned really red with blush because the person he loved the most was hugging him.

"Let me enjoy it for a while Ryuuji, and hug me back too!" Taiga demanded as she put on a pouty face. Normally Ryuuji would be rolling his eyes in a situation like this, but he really wanted to hug her back, but he didn't knew if it was okay. But now he got a get go from hers truly.

"Your wish is my command" Ryuuji smiled a bit as he starting blushing even more before he hugged Taiga back.

Taiga got visibly more red too by him returning the affection

"Hey, Ryuuji?" Aisaka whispered softly into Takasu's ear, which made Takasu blush even more

"Y-yeah?" Ryuuji said nervously, he was nervous because he wasn't used to Taiga being so close, but he really liked it.

"I love you" Taiga whispered into his ear again with blush all over her face. All time stopped for Ryuuji, there she said it again, just like the night before. She really loved him, and he loved her, all worries and bad thoughts went out of his head as he melted by the sudden realization of what just transpired. It was like a beautiful dream, It was almost too perfect really, but it was real. Their love was not a dream.

"I love you too Taiga, i didn't knew it before yesterday, but i loved you the most for a long time" Ryuuji started crying happy tears as he embraced the one that he loved the most.

"Same goes for me Ryuuji, I didn't knew it for a long time, but i loved you the most, why wouldn't i? You always cared about me, noone ever cared about me like this." Taiga expressed her love towards Ryuuji as she cried happy tears as well as he did, they stayed hugging together for some time, none of them wanting to move, they just wanted to be in each other's presence for a while.

But then some people started to walk by, and both of them noticed that, so they quickly got up and acted as if nothing happend

Though they kept looking at each other, which when they realized that they both started to blush a lot

"Hey, we should get moving, We're all leaving in an hour and neither of us has packed bags" Ryuuji said to Taiga as he looked away from her face with embarrasment because he was still blushing as hell

"Yeah, let's do that" Taiga replied the same way, by looking away embarrased.

They started walking towards the bed rooms where all the students were sleeping the day before, their blush slowly was dissapearing as they both calmed down a bit, but then Takasu stopped for a bit. Taiga noticed that and stopped walking too

"Hey Taiga, i have a question?" Ryuuji asked with a blush forming again, as he scratched his face, smiled and looked away

"What is it Ryuuji?" Aisaka asked him back, not knowing what he had in mind

"Um, so like what are we now?" Ryuuji asked as he looked back at her with a giant blush appearing on his face again

Taiga was caught off guard by that question and went red as a tomato

"W-What would we be huh Ryuuji? I said i love you, you said you love me. So that means we-we're a c-c-couple.." The realization made her red as a tomato and frozen at the same time as a giant grin appeared on her face, probably thinking about how they are a couple now.

At that sight Ryuuji chuckled a bit seeing Taiga so adorable, though he was blushing like crazy after hearing that as well.

"Don't you laught at me! I can't help it, i'm still not used to having you as my boyfriend is all" Taiga said as she put up her Tsudere attitude for a second, but then she switched to her more sincere side.

"I'm sorry, i just love seeing you being so cute" Ryuuji said honestly as he looked into her beautiful brown eyes

"S-Shut up you Idiot, Let's just go!" Taiga said in her Tsundere attitude and turned away, but instead of hurting Ryuuji in someway, she instead grabbed his hand and started walking

"H-Hey, hold on!" Takasu shouted at Taiga who did not slowed down. and kept on going, he did not expected to be holding hands with her like that, but he enjoyed it a lot.

"I said shut up, and keep going!" Taiga did not stopped for Ryuuji and instead kept going to where the bed rooms were. they were both bickering as usual, though something was different about it that day, one could easily see that they loved each other very much, despite them insulting each other from time to time.

One of those people who saw it was Ami Kawashima.

**End of Chapter 2 - Confrotation**

**Writer's notes: **

19/11/19 18:11

I'm starting to write a next chapter as of today, i wanted to start yesterday but i went drinking with friends so i didn't had time unfortunately, apologies for that, to make up for it i'll try finishing to 50%

19/11/19 20:08

F*** it, I'm gonna finish it today.

20/11/19 16:42

I sorta did, but i pushed myself when i was tired as hell, which lead to me botching the end of it and overall it's gonna need a new draft before i upload it

20/11/19 18:38

So i had to do 3 drafts on the Minorin/Taiga confrotation, which took me a few hours to complete. I had to throw away the first draft because it was so bad, the second turned out meh, and the third one turned out okay i guess. Honestly i'm too exhausted to do a 4th one because it's just so mentally taxing, so i apologize if that part still sucks, i just don't have the strenght to go back and redo it again


	3. Chapter 3 - Silky Hearts

**(Skip this if you just want the fluff) **

Hello, Totenwelt here! I here is the the fluff chapter like i promised on the last chapter, I'm gonna be honest i'm not entirely proud on how it turned out, so i might stray away from fluff only chapters for now. But either way i hope you enjoy this Chapter, though i'm gonna be honest nothing much happens story wise so it can be taken as a filler, so if you really just want the story then you can skip this chapter and everything will still make sense in the long run. Anyways i'll see you all folks next chapter!

**Shout Out:**

Thank you all to who read Chapter 2, it was a real slug fest from my side. But it seems like you people enjoyed it, so thank you all again.

Special shout out to **Dreamer15147** (i hope i got that right) who left a review, a follow and a favorite. And a unnamed person who dropped a follow. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, it's extremely appreciated, seeing that people like my work so much, it brings me so much happiness and it pushes me as a writer to bring you guys and gals the best works i can, thus i will do everything in power to do so.

Anyways Thank you everyone again, and i hope you'll enjoy the chapter.

**FLUFF BEGINS HERE**

It was bleak and dark outside with rain violently hitting against the windows and thunder muted all surrounding sounds with it's powerful crackling. A small girl of small statue with brown silky hair and beautiful hazel eyes woke up on a school table of sorts, the girl did not recognized her surroundings. She was scared because she was all alone in a creepy place that somewhat resembled her school that she went to, but she was alone. She got up and tried to look around the pitch black room she was in, but she didn't had a phone or anything else in that regard by her so she couldn't see in the dark, though she stop doors that lead to the outside of the classroom.

But then when she was getting close to the door they slammed open on their own as thunder hit on the outside illuminating the room for a split of a second with blue-ish light.

That girl was starting to freak out, there was something there with her, a ghost or a something, and she was all alone against it.

Then, the tables that were close to the door went flying around the classroom, as if some super natural thing was slowly but surely making it's way over to the little girl.

She run by most of the desks to get to the second door that was still closed, but the door was stuck, it would not open no matter how hard she tried to tug or twist the handle.

More and more tables got flipped upside down as "It" got closer. The girls started to really panic.

Another lighting hit right next by them, it filled the class with blue-ish light again, though this time it revealed a female ghost of some sorts that was chasing the girl.

It was a tall, long haired woman without clothes that had a heinous look on her face of dread and hate, to see that face would give anyone a nightmare.

The little girl got even more scared, and so she ran to the corner as she had no other way of running away anymore.

Though that didn't stopped the ghost lady who flipped all the tables and was closing in on the girl who was just a few meters away from her.

The little girl could not take it anymore, she sat in the corner and covered her face and hoped that the ghost lady would disappear and leave her alone as the ghost made it's way about a meter away from her.

Another lighting hit right next to them, which once again revealed the ghost lady preparing to attack the little girl with her hand that was more like a claw of some animal as the ghost turned into a mutated creature of some sorts.

The little girl peeped a bit and saw how horrific that thing looked, she thought it was all over for her, "How can i survive that thing?" She thought as she closed her eyes preparing to meet her maker.

Then, right before the creature took a swing against her quick footsteps could be heard from outside of the classroom, those footsteps quickly entered the classroom, and behind the monster, and then there was a struggle of some sorts from the monster as it fell down. The little girl was confused as to what happened, but she still had her eyes closed because she was still terrified of who defeated the monster.

That person came right next to her,

The girl started to open her eyes to see a very familiar face and voice, it was none other than Ryuuji Takasu, her boyfriend and the one who always comes to the rescue.

"It's okay Taiga, I'm here for you now" Ryuuji said as he reached out his hand towards her, the girl smiled and grabbed on to his hand which lead to him lifting her a bit and hugging her tightly, she started to cry a bit. And then darkness.

Taiga slowly opened her eyes and woke up. She realized that it was just another nightmare, or rather it would have been if it weren't for her prince in shinning armor Ryuuji.

She looked around where she was, because she didn't woke up completely yet, she noticed that she was still on a bus heading back to their home. Outside of the bus weather was as beautiful as it was before she went to sleep. It was a sunny bright day. Though most importantly, Taiga noticed that she was lying on Ryuuji's shoulder, which put a giant blush on her face that she was so close to him. Taiga would have stayed like that forever if it weren't for Ryuuji noticing she was already awake.

"Hey Taiga, how did you slept?" Ryuuji asked her as Taiga moved her head from his shoulder because she was getting embarrassed.

Ryuuji raised an eyebrow because he noticed her blush, and wondered why was she blushing now of all sudden.

Aisaka turned her head towards him

"Hey, Ryu. Well, i had this wierd dream where i was chased by a ghost lady of sorts, but then..." Another blush appeared on Taiga face as she realized again what she dreamt about, causing her to stop talking for a second and looking the other way.

Ryuuji raised another eyebrow that she stopped talking of all sudden

"What's up Taiga?" Takasu casually asked her, Aisaka hid her face in a red scarf that Ryuuji gave her on Christmas Eve. It still had his smell and it smelled great. But she couldn't tell him that, she would die of embarrassment if he knew.

"You saved me, and we hugged okay?" Taiga mumbled embarrassed underneath the scarf as she buried her face even deeper to the scarf.

Ryuuji blushed a little after hearing that, he looked away for a moment because he didn't wanted Taiga to see his blush, she would probably make some remark or call him names.

"W-Well i'm happy that i saved you" Ryuuji said embarrassed as well, he didn't wanted to admit it, but he found Taiga dreaming about him saving her extremely cute.

Finally with her blush finally being mostly gone she digged her face out of Ryuuji's scarf

"Yeah so am i, thank you for always saving me, even in my dreams you're always my knight in shinning armor" Taiga smiled as she tightly cuddled Ryuuji's arm, lied her head on his shoulder once again and closed her eyes.

Ryuuji did not expected that, so he recoiled a bit when Taiga touched him, not to mention he blushed a lot because of that, but soon enough he relaxed as he rested his head on hers.

It was a great feeling for both of them, being in each other's presence and because they could hear each other's heartbeat, which were beating like crazy due to them being so close next to each other, but they were beating on the same rhythm.

Once those hearts were rough and cold to each other, but eventually they turned to silky and warm towards each other.

And soon enough without realizing it they both fell asleep in each other's arms.

Kawashima was looking and listening to them talking from the back seat, because she sat not even 2 seats away from them. Hearing them being so lovey doughy made her heart ache, but she knew that soon enough she would be in Taiga's position, being in his arms and loved by him. It would only take a little push if she tried, but again it wasn't the right time.

"Hey, Ami? Are you okay? You space out a lot today" One of her friends brought her back to reality, Ami turned towards her with a smile and her fake facade

"Of course i am, sorry i was just thinking of something" Kawashima beamed at her friend, who had a mischievous smile on her face

"Oh, is it a boy?" Her friend asked with a grin on her face

"You're in love Ami?" her other friend who was sitting across her shouted, Ami put her hand over her face because she started blushing.

"Yeah, something like that" She smiled in embarrassment. Her two friends exploded from hearing the news

"Whoa, no way! Who's the lucky guy? He must be like super hot, and rich because a model like you can get a guy like that" the friend who was sitting next to her shouted. Kawashima regretted telling them the truth, so she laughed and played dumb lwith her fake facade as he always did infront of others.

Other students who were near Ami's seat overheard the conversation and soon enough the whole bus exploded after hearing the news.

Sentences and questions like "Who are you in love with?" and "Ami surely is in love with me", "Oh my god, i actually have a chance!" were heard all across the bus. Everyone was in shock and awe, except for 3 people. And she wanted one of those people to care, because he was the guy she loved.

The second person was Taiga, and the last person was.. Minorin Kushieda.

She looked at Ami with disgust in her eyes, though Kawashima did not noticed because she was getting people to calm down. But Minorin wouldn't calm down because she knew exactly who that person was, and she vowed to protect Ryuuji's and Taiga's relationship no matter what happened, even if it hurt her. She gave up on her love for Ryuuji just so Taiga would be with Ryuuji and she wouldn't let it get ruined by Kawashima.

Though she couldn't do anything to her right now which was a curse and a blessing at the same time, so she decided she would wait until the next day in school.

And with that, everyone soon enough piped down from the scandal that Ami Kawashima was in love and they all went on their merry way home.

Few hours later.

Ryuuji slowly opened his dangerous looking eyes because he heard people walking and rumbling all around him.

He noticed people walking out of the bus. Ryuuji was bit confused at that, he looked outside the window, the beautiful sunny day was replaced by dark night and a moon hovering above everyone. Takasu quickly checked his cell phone with his free hand, because Taiga was still clenching onto his right arm even in sleep.

It was 19:45, aka the time that they were supposed to arrive at the school. Ryuuji panicked a bit because they were the last people still in bus.

Takasu looked over to Aisaka, who was sleeping like a beautiful doll once again, he didn't wanted to wake her up, because she looked so peaceful, but he had no choice, they had to get home.

So Ryuuji shook her shoulder lightly to wake her up

"Wake up Taiga, we're here" Ryuuji whispered into Taiga's ear, waking her up.

"C'mon let me sleep for 5 more minutes" Taiga pleaded Ryuuji as she cuddled his arm once again, normally he wouldn't have problem with that, but they really needed to go, and he could tell the bus driver wasn't in a good mood.

"Taiga, c'mon we have to go!" Ryuuji shouted at Taiga as he shook her shoulder more violently now.

"Okay, geez why you have to be so annoying about it? " Taiga said grumpily, she didn't liked waking up earlier than she should be, and when she did she got very grumpy and grouchy, Ryuuji learned that the hard way.

Aisaka yawned and rubbed her eyes to properly wake up because she was still half asleep. Ryuuji wasted no time and got up from his seat and offered a hand to her which she happily took. Though that still caused a bit of a blush to appear on Ryuuji's face because he still wasn't used to holding hands with girls, especially with such a cute girl like Taiga.

They quickly made their way outside of the bus, where it was pitch black, so much so that you couldn't see 2-3 meters ahead of them.

They reached the storage for luggage in the bus underneath the seats and took their luggage filled with their clothes and other accessories and started walking home.

They would talk with the rest of the students or the teachers but they were so late everyone was already gone, well atleast for one person.

Minorin watched from afar, though the couple did not see her because it was that dark.

She wanted to tell Ryuuji or Taiga that Ami was planning to do something to them to split them apart so she can date Ryuuji, but she didn't had the strength, not after what happened a few hours ago in the bathroom, she couldn't face Ryuuji or Taiga now because of it. So she just walked away with tears forming in her eyes again, she wiped them away as they fell on the dark pavement.

"Hey, i forgot to ask before we went on the bus, What were you talking about with your mother? She looked really worried about you, then she looked really pissed off" Ryuuji asked Taiga as he walked towards his home with luggage in his one hand, and Taiga's little hand in the other.

"She was just worried that i wasn't okay, and as for why she was pissed, she wanted me to hang out with her for a day or two, which sounded really tempting because it was ages since i last did that with my mom, but i passed on that because i wanted to be with you for a while, seeing as we're c-couple and all" Taiga said nervously as she smiled and blushed, she still wasn't used to the fact that they were dating, it was surreal to her, and it was same for Ryuuji.

Ryuuji blushed extremely after hearing that, because it made him very happy that he meant so much to her, which made his heart beat quickly, even faster than before, so much so he felt like he was having a heart attack.

"W-Well, Thank you for choosing me then." Ryuuji bumbled, his heart was still in the skies and so was his head apparently, that didn't stopped Taiga from scooching closer to Ryuuji and rubbing his arm with hers.

"I can say the same thing Ryuuji" Taiga smiled as they both giggled together on how rediculous they both were as they kept on walking happily holding hands.

Truly they were both the happiest they ever been before, and they couldn't do it without each other's love.

They kept going for a few minutes without saying anything, rather they just enjoyed the peacefulness and beautie of the moment.

Though that eventually had to stop

"Hey Taiga? i wonder what should i make us for dinner?" Ryuuji broke the peaceful silence they were both enjoying, but he really needed to ask that question because he couldn't leave Taiga without any food like that.

"That's up to you Ryuuji, I'll eat whatever you make me, because i love your food, and i love you." Taiga said as she mumbled the last part into her scarf, but Ryuuji heard it very well and so he blushed extremely after realizing that she went ahead and said it like that. He looked away and out on a pouty face because he didn't wanted Taiga to throw the word out like that.

"I-idiot, stop saying that, that word is gonna lose the meaning" Ryuuji said in a attitude that fitted more to Taiga than him, but it was probably because he adopted her mannerisms now that they were dating and all.

"It wont, because in my heart it will always have the same meaning" Taiga smiled at Ryuuji who she thought was still pouting, but in reality he wasn't pouting anymore he was just hiding his blush from how cute she was.

"A-anyways, I'm gonna make us pork cutlets because we're a couple now, and i know how much you love them" Ryuuji said as he turned his back towards Taiga again

"Thank you Ryuuji for spoiling me so much!" Taiga smiled as she threw herself in a hug towards her boyfriend affectionately, it threw Ryuuji a off of balance a bit, but he caught her.

Though he had to drop his luggage, but so did Taiga when she launched herself at him.

They both hugged each other and eventually their gaze met, both of them just kept at each other. Ryuuji looked into her beautiful hazel coloured eyes and flawless doll like face, as Taiga looked into his delinquent looking eyes that would normally scare anyone away, but they were beautiful in her eyes because she knew they belonged to a person with a great heart.

"T-Taiga?" Ryuuji asked her as he kept glaring on her

"Yeah?" she nodded

"I love you too" He said as he looked her in the eyes, which was quite a challenge because he couldn't look away straight away. Though he did right afterwards because he was embarrassed.

Taiga smiled and reached to take his hand, as they went on their way home

A few minutes later.

They went to the store, to get the ingredients needed for dinner and the they walked back to Ryuuji's place.

Takasu was in the kitchen making the cutlets whilst Taiga played with Inko in the living room, she poked her around and did other things to the poor bird like she always did. Though this time she wasn't really mean to the bird, it seemed like she started liking the bird. 'Fugly' kind of reminded her of Ryuuji in a way.

A very heavy thought dawned on Taiga. She was just sitting around, eating all the food all the time without really giving Ryuuji anything, and never making him any food herself, and because of that she felt really guilty, so she wanted to help out Ryuuji in the kitchen, especially now that they were couple and all, and also that maybe they were gonna get... married...

That thought made Taiga extremely happy and made her blush extremely as well, as even just the slightest of possibility of being with Ryuuji until the end of time was simply incredible to her.

Aisaka smiled, got up and walked into the kitchen to see Ryuuji preparing the food.

She walked up behind him and hugged him from behind

"Hey Ryuuji, do you think i can help you make the food?" Taiga looked at Ryuuji with a grin on her face, he turned his head towards her

"Well, i'm almost done so i doubt there's anything you can help with, but thank you either way for wanting to help" Ryuuji smiled at her, but she put on a pouty face instead, because she really wanted to help, and it just seemed to her he didn't wanted having her around because she would mess it up, he always calls her a klutz after all.

"Look i'm sorry Taiga, but the food really is almost done, there isn't much if anything you can help with" Ryuuji said apologetically, he seen that she really wanted to help him but there wasn't much to help with.

She still pouted as she crossed her arms into an x

"Fine, but i'm gonna cook you something myself next time you hear!" Taiga demanded as she continued to look away angrily.

"Okay, Okay, you can make the food next time, but please don't burn the house down." Takasu begged Aisaka who was still pouting with her arms crossed

"Do you think i'm that bad in the kitchen?! I'll show you, just you see" Taiga said in her tsundere attitude, though she didn't called him any names, which was quite the step up for her usual self, by that time she would already drop kick him or something.

"Okay, well i can't wait then. I haven't tasted anything from you yet i believe.. " he said as rubbed his jaw and looked off to the distance to remember if she ever did make him some food, though no memory came up about it.

"No, you haven't. so prepare to get blown away!" Taiga shouted as her poutiness disappeared in the matter of seconds and as she pumped her fist in the air to show how fired up she was about that idea.

"I already am Taiga, i know it's gonna be great because it's gonna be made by you, anyways look umm, i'll be done here in like 10 minutes max, so just wait for me okay? " Ryuuji asked Taiga nicely, she nodded and walked off with a giant grin on her face and thinking how much of a great boyfriend she has.

10 minutes later.

Ryuuji walked into the living room with two plates in his hands, of course he left a plate for Yasuko later when she returned from work on the kitchen table as he usually does.

When Taiga saw and smelled how great the cutlets turned out her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, and she couldn't wait to eat it. Takasu put the plates down and sat down by her, in the matter of milliseconds after putting the plates down she started devouring the cutlets mercilessly. He started eating it as well and was surprised on how well it turned out. He couldn't really blame Taiga that she ate it so vigorously, it was that tasty.

Them eating together next to each other was very beautiful, It felt like they were a normal family. Though they kinda already were before according to Yasuko, but they weren't dating so it didn't counted that much.

They ate together in peace and in the matter of a few minutes they both finished eating their plates.

"I'm stuffed, Thank you Ryuuji for the cutlets, they were really good" Taiga smiled at Ryuuji. Tiger is the most happiest when it's fed, and that couldn't be more true to Taiga as well.

"Well thank you Taiga, I'm happy you liked it so much" Ryuuji smiled back at her as he picked up the plates and went to the kitchen to clean them up. As he rinsed and cleaned the plates with a sponge thoroughly he noticed a time on a clock that was on the wall, It was 22:25, which was very late even for sleepover standards.

"Hey Taiga, it's getting really late. We should go to sleep" Ryuuji shouted to Taiga who was still sitting in the living room

A mischievous smile formed across her face, she was up to something.

"Yeah, we should" Aisaka shouted back to Takasu who was still in kitchen as she ran to his room, though Takasu had no idea about that.

"Then are you going home then or what?" Ryuuji asked her with a bit of a sad tone, he really didn't wanted Taiga to leave, but he couldn't stop her if she wanted to go home. He finished cleaning the plates so he took them and placed them next to the others extremely clean plates because they already dried up. Though something was a bit off. Ryuuji didn't heard Taiga respond, so he came looking for her in the living room.

Ryuuji looked in the living room to see noone there, his heart sunk a bit. Did she just left without saying anything?

He checked the balcony to find her window closed, so she couldn't have gone there, but then where was she?

She couldn't have ran to the bathroom, he would have heard her as it's right next to the kitchen. So that left two other rooms, she was either in Yasuko's room, or she was in his room.

A giant blush appeared on his face because of something in his room, that something was a box of some sorts, that box was very similar to Kushieda's box in the regard that Takasu was making it for if they started dating, and he sort of made a box for Taiga as well, and he didn't wanted her to see that because he would fall through the earth with embarrassment if she did.

Ryuuji quickly walked over to his room to see if Taiga was there, and more importantly what was she doing there.

And there she was, standing in the middle of the room with two futons set up next to each other, it was like a family bed, which put even larger blush on Takasu's face.

"W-What are you doing Taiga?" Ryuuji asked nervously, he wasn't sure what that was all about.

"Well, since we're a couple i decided it only makes sense if we sleep next to each other, Any problem with that?" Taiga said mostly nicely, but at the end turned into her tsundere attitude once again, though she meant nothing bad of it, she just really wanted to sleep next to Ryuuji, he shook his head into a no.

"No, There isn't any problem ma'am, you just surprised me is all." Ryuuji said as he rubbed his head and looked away in embarrassment because of the blush.

Taiga smiled like a sun that he didn't minded sleeping like that, everything was working out greatly in Taiga's plan.

"Okay, well what are waiting for? Lie down and i'll turn the lights off" Taiga demanded for Ryuuji to go lie down, though he rebelled a bit which caused Taiga to tug on his shirt.

"It's okay, i can take care of that" Ryuuji said as he turned around to turn off the lights, Taiga still tugged on his shirt, more violently this time

"I said, Go lie down!" Taiga shouted at Ryuuji with her tsundere attitude as she tugged even harder on his shirt somehow, almost sending him flying by how much force she put up into that.

"Okay Geez, you don't have to be so pushy about it" Ryuuji said as he walked back to the futons after she released his shirt from her hold.

Taiga smiled that her plan is gonna work out exactly how she envisioned,

It was still just unreal that he's gonna sleep so close to her, will he be even able to sleep like that? He didn't knew himself.

Taiga on the other hand was skipping around Ryuuji's home humming to herself as she turned the lights off around his house, her plan was surely gonna work.

Ryuuji lied on the floor and looked out of his window and onto the sky to see starts as beautiful as they could look shinning across the dark sky. It reminded him of Taiga in a way, then he started thinking just how close he got with Taiga in the last year alone. How many times their plan to start dating Minorin and Kitamura always back fired, but how they got close with each other because of it. How many times they laughed, how many times they cried, how many times they all screamed at each other. It all gave Ryuuji great memories of the past. Though he started wondering for a while now, and that was when did he really started having feelings for her? Takasu couldn't really point it to a single day, but he knew he loved her for a long time, he just didn't knew it himself, or maybe he just didn't wanted to admit.

Taiga finally turned all the lights off and skipped off to Ryuuji's room again.

"Hey Ryuuji? Can you raise your left arm?" Taiga asked Ryuuji with a giant blush on her face from thinking what she was about to do

Takasu gulped as to what she had plans for him, he knew that she had something in plan.

He did just as she told him, though reluctantly at first. In the matter of seconds Taiga ran over to her futon and jumped in it as she lied her head on Ryuuji's arm with a giant grin on her face.

"W-Whoa, T-Taiga?" Ryuuji shouted towards his girlfriend who made her home on his arm. His face lit up with blush, because he did expected Taiga to do that, then again she was full of suprises all day. She was so close to him, because of that his heart beat went through the roof and his blush got even redder somehow. Though that wasn't the end of things unfortunately for Ryuuji's heart.

Taiga then rolled to her right side and lied her head on his chest practically just listening to his heartbeat, It was a beautiful thing for Taiga because she could tell just how much Ryuuji loved her by how wildly his heart beat. They both lied like that for a while until Ryuuji finally decided he wanted to be as close to her as he possibly could, so he took his left arm that was now freed because she and rolled it around Taiga's small frame, which pulled her even closer to him causing her to blush more than she already was before. She was practically melting into him at that point and she loved every single second of it

"Goodnight Taiga" Ryuuji said to her as he kissed her on the head.

"G-Goodnight Ryuuji" Taiga said back to Ryuuji, though she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep after that.

**End of Chapter 3 - Silky Hearts**

** Writers Note:**

21/11/19 18:32 I'm gonna start writing chapter 3 today, hopefully should have it done by tomorrow.

22/11/19 21:34 I'm feeling like finishing it in one day, i'm about 50% done but i feel extremly inspired today and overall i kinda have the whole chapter planned out, which i don't usually have.

22/11/19 23:55 My head hurts a lot, but i almost have it done (about 600 ish words left) so i'm gonna finish it today, but it might suck. So i'll ran a new draft tomorrow see if i can make it better.

23/11/19 0:35 I give up, i'm too tired to continue, more i write the more it sucks, so i decided it would for the best if i went to sleep now and finish it tomorrow morning and be happy with it rather than write it now and be unhappy with it because i can't focus because i'm tired.

24/11/19 21:22 Finally found some time to start writing again, i just need to finish the chapter which should be in a sec, maybe gonna make a new draft, a add a few lines to make it a bit better, run it through a spell checker and hopefully should have it done in a hour, hour and a half.


	4. Chapter 4 - Calm Before The Storm

**(Skip this if you only want to read the story) **

Hello, Totenwelt here! Apologies for taking so long on making this Chapter, honestly i burned myself out completly after finishing Chapter 3, and the worst part is that it turned out pretty badly, which pisses me off a lot, not gonna lie. But hey, as Bob Ross once said: Anything that you try and don't succeed, if you learn from it, it's not a failure. So i decided i would take some time off after i finish every chapter, and overall not rush it just so it's done, But i digress.

Also, i just kind of realized a really crappy thing when it comes to writing fanfictions about something that already exists (especially anime) and that's if you want to achieve 100% correct aspects of the thing you're writing like characters, setting, personalities, etc. You have to go back and reread or rewatch that thing you're writing, and look under it with a microscope, and then you have to go "What if.." on everything, and overall it just sucks out the fun of rewatching or rereading that thing you enjoy normally so much, like always when i rewatched Toradora every year around New Year i was really happy since the series was that good everytime, but since i had to look in details for everything i didn't enjoy the journey getting to the end because i had to rewatch it just to know how characters would act, react.

Anyways, end of my rant.

**Shoutout:**

I thank you all who read the story once again, i know i say it on every chapter but i really do mean it, you're all awesome!

Also, Special thanks to all folks who read even these useless bits of text on here.

And another Special thanks to **Dreamer15147** for leaving another review on last chapter.

Thank you for enjoying even the bad chapters of my story, i try to potray all the characters as close as they were potrait in the anime/manga so thank you for noticing and apreciating my effort!

**(Start of the story)**

"I really want these feelings to go away, to make me stronger, because i'm hopeless. I just can't... stop loving Ryuuji" Takasu was at that mountain again, holding Aisaka's little body like he did before, though this time something was a bit different. Taiga thought he was Kitamura for some reason, it made his heart sunk extremely that he couldn't tell her how he really felt about her, that he would give her up so she could be with Kitamura after all. It felt really wierd, he didn't wanted to lose her because he loved her, but it also felt right. After all Taiga loved Kitamura for so long didn't she?

He didn't knew what to think anymore, he just kept on going up the snowy hill. Or so he thought, he pushed up the hill to take her to safety, but then he looked at the ground. It was all filled with his tears, He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't live without Taiga as his. Loves. Ryuuji fell on his knees, losing his balance and tumbling back with Taiga on his back down the snowy dark hill again.

Ryuuji gasped for air as he did he jerked his torso upwards. Ryuuji noticed he was in a class again, with classmates sitting all around him. it was nothing but a wierd nightmare, or something like that, he didn't knew himself.

The teacher noticed him acting a bit strange, she knew that he slept on her hours, but she knew he had it rough for the last couple of days so she decided she would leave him be. Though she was concerned as to what has up with him

"Hey, Takasu are you okay?" The female teacher asked Ryuuji, who was pale and looked as if he saw a ghost.

He looked at her

"Y-yes Teacher, I'm perfectly okay" Takasu said nervously as he stood up from his chair. the teacher didn't really bought it, but she left him alone because he probably had a nightmare she thought.

Ryuuji sat down again and lie on his table again like he did before he fell asleep. He looked behind him to his right to see a empty seat. It was a seat that belonged to his girlfriend Taiga Aisaka.

Few hours before.

"Hey, Ryuuji? Wake up!" Taiga said as she tugged on Ryuuji's shirt who was still sound asleep. Aisaka pouted as her efforts were wasted, he was still sleeping. She didn't wanted to be mean to him again for no reason like she was to him all that time they knew each other, but this time she had no choice. Aisaka took his shoulders and violently started shaking him. Very quickly he woke up after that with a loud ground coming out of him. A smug appeared on her face as she successfully woke him up after all. "What is it Taiga?" Ryuuji said still half asleep with eyes halfway closed. "I'm sorry for waking you up so early, but my mom messaged me that she's gonna pick me up and we're gonna spend some time together. I wish i could say no to her, but i fear she's gonna force me to live with her if i don't, so i have to go" Taiga said as she looked down sad as she sat on Ryuuji's lap. Aisaka didn't wanted to leave him alone, she really wanted to spend every single second with him, but she couldn't otherwise her mom would very likely intervene in her normal life.

Not to mention she was really scared that someone might take him for themself whilst she's gonna be out of the picture, it wasn't that she didn't trusted him, she just didn't trusted other girls who had hots for him, excluding Minorin.

Ryuuji sat up confused

"Wait really? That really sucks" Takasu also looked down as well as he realized what that meant and sadness filled his mind

Taiga nodded

"Yeah it does, I'm really sorry Ryuuji" Taiga said as she looked him in the eyes with a teary face and hugged him tightly

"It's okay Taiga, really it is" Ryuuji said as he hugged her back, though he did not had a teary face because he had to be strong for her so she wouldn't feel even worse.

They stayed like that, enjoying each other's embrace for a long while. But like everything nice in life it had to end eventually.

"Hey Taiga, i forgot to ask when is she coming to pick you up?" Ryuuji asked Taoga breaking the silence, she looked up thinking, she didn't had a teary face anymore, Ryuuji's hug reassured her everything is gonna be okay.

"I would say about 30 minutes" Taiga replied to Ryuuji's question, Ryuuji nodded.

"Okay, well do you want me to make you a breakfast then?" Takasu asked, whilst both of them still hugged.

"No, My mom messaged me that we're gonna eat out" Taiga said looking down again, she wanted to taste his tasty food made by him, but she unfortunately couldn't.

"Oh i see well then, shouldn't you like start dressing up and all that then?" Ryuuji asked her once again, truth be told he didn't wanted Taiga to leave, but he had no choice, so he at least wanted her to be on time if nothing else.

"Not yet, I still want to hug you a little bit longer" Taiga nodded no as she hugged him even tighter and grinned a little bit.

"I'm spoiling you so much you know that?" Ryuuji chuckled as he hugged her tighter as well

"I know, that's why i love you so much" Taiga said as she buried her face to hide her blush as she smiled from ear to ear.

Ryuuji was still not used to hearing her saying that she loved him, so he blushed and stayed silent.

They stayed like that for like 15 minutes.

"Taiga, you really should start getting ready" Ryuuji said pretty unwillingly, he really didn't wanted to let her go, but she had to get ready or her mom would be mad.

"Yeah, i know" Taiga said with a sad smile on her face as she looked down, she got off of Ryuuji and started walking towards door leading out of Ryuuji's apartment

"You sure you got everything?" Takasu asked a little worried. Taiga nodded

"Yeah, don't worry Ryuuji, everything is gonna be fine" Taiga said as she smiled at him more beautifully then she ever did, and that said something because she had a very beautiful smile.

"Y-yeah" Ryuuji said nervously because he found that smile extremely cute and it made him blush a little.

Taiga turned around to put on her little boots

Ryuuji rubbed his head, still feeling pretty tired.

Taiga finished putting on her boots and turned

"Well, I'll be on my way then" Taiga said sadly as she looked away and started walking to her apartment

"Wait!" Ryuuji grabbed her hand before she could leave. She looked towards him with a slight blush because she did not expected that

Ryuuji looked at her with a big blush across his face

"Goodbye Taiga, I.." He stopped for a second, before finishing the sentence

"I love you too!" Ryuuji shouted towards her, she turned completely red like a tomato. She was still not used to him saying that he loves her

"G-Goodbye Ryuuji" Taiga said as she hurried down the stairs because she didn't wanted him to see the giant blush she had on her face because of what he said, but he knew that she did.

Present time.

Ryuuji looked away from his girlfriend's seat, the loneliness and sadness of her not being around him slowly but surely hit him, eating away at his psyche. It really affected him as he just lied silent and sad on his desk for most of his day, not even coming to talk to anyone. Ironically his love for Taiga was the thing that hurt him the most.

He lied on his desk again sad. Minorin watched from afar as she usually did, she saw how Ryuuji was suffering, and she didn't liked it one bit but she couldn't do anything about, nor could she get close to him because of what happened between her and Taiga on the trip, not to mention they still haven't really got back to each other after she straight armed him.

She looked down sad in defeat, because she couldn't help him and Taiga wasn't there to help him either.

Kushieda looked around the classroom to find out that Kawashima in high spirits and smiling. She was extremely suspicion of her, Taiga still didn't replied to her texts that she sent about 3 hours ago, but she had a 6th sense that why Taiga didn't came to school that day had to do something with Ami. Minorin looked at her with disgust in her face once again, she would go ahead and tell her face to face if it weren't for everyone being in the class, plus she found a new job so she didn't had time to wait around to tell her after school.

So she just sat there, waiting for the class to be over.

"... and please don't forget to turn your career plan in tomorrow... " the teacher said, Ryuuji wasn't listening one bit to what she had to say, except for that last part. He knew he didn't had the money to go to college, not to mention that his mom always helped him out, and he wanted to repay that to her.

"Is that clear?" Teacher asked the students, who weren't interested in any way

"Yeah" Most of the students said bored

Minorin looked at Ryuuji again, it seemed to her like something else was plaguing his mind, but she had no idea what it could be. Not that she could help even if she knew.

All students started to bag their things and were about to go home, so she started to bag her things as well.

She got it in her bag and started to walk out of the classroom to the hall, everything was going as planned

But then, Ryuuji called her out

"Hey, Kushieda wait up! I need to talk to you about something" Ryuuji shouted towards Minorin, who didn't even stopped and kept on going as if she didn't hear him.

"Wait up!" Ryuuji said as he touched her shoulder to slow her down. Minorin did stopped, but she kept her back towards Ryuuji as him touching her shoulder put her in a array of emotions, most of them negative and she didn't wanted let him see her cry.

"I'm sorry Takasu, but i really have to go, i have practice again" Kushieda said coldly as she waved off Takasu whilst still facing him with her back and ran off.

Ryuuji extended his hand towards her, he wanted to apologize for the New Year confession that was rejected. But he couldn't, it seemed to him like she didn't even wanted to be near him, she probably started hated him.

Sending him into a even deeper spiral of sadness. Not only was his girlfriend away but one of his few friends doesn't want to be around him anymore. He was all alone again.

Well, he would be if it weren't for a certain elegant blue haired model.

She walked behind him without him noticing.

"Hey Takasu, are you okay? What happened?" Ami asked him, she knew something was wrong, and that meant everything was according to her plan so far.

"Huh? Kawashima? Yeah i'm okay, nothing happened" Ryuuji looked at her with a really sad face not recognizing her at first, normally he would be annoyed with her but he didn't had enough strength anymore to talk to her like that.

Ami did not believed that for a second, she knew he was suffering, and she wanted to desperately help him, it really hurt her seeing him like that but she had to keep her head high because he was almost hers, she just had to push a little bit further.

"Is it something with Kushieda or Aisaka?" Kawashima asked him, Ryuuji didn't replied, he simply nodded

"It's that bad huh?" She said to herself outloud, she snapped her fingers because a thought came across her mind

"Hey, how about we go out somewhere? It's been a long while since we last hanged out" Kawashima suggested, though in reality she had this whole scenario planned out.

Ryuuji raised his eyebrow, it was wierd for her to be so friendly towards her, especially with how she treated him before. Something wasn't right, it was like she was scheming something, but that didn't mattered anymore, it seemed her intentions were good enough, so he dropped it.

"Okay, i guess. So where are we going? Kawashima" Ryuuji asked Kawashima who got lost in a thought as to where they should go, again she knew exactly where they'll go, she was just thinking about what to do next in her plan.

"Oh, right i think i know a place! How about we go visit the new restaurant they opened near the school!" Kawashima suggested with smile on her face, because both she could play on both his feelings and have a romantic dinner with him

"I wish, i'm broke and i have to make food for my mom" Takasu shot her down, she was completly caught off guard about that because she didn't expected that one bit that he would refuse.

"Oh i see, well how about we just go home together then?" Kawashima asked Ryuuji again, this time he simply nodded

"Sure i guess, let's go" Takasu said as he started walking down to the lockers.

They both started walking out of the school next to each other. She made sure to be as close to him as she possibly could, Takasu didn't minded that however.

Someone saw them together, and that someone was Kushieda on her softball practice. She stopped everything to look at them.

Minorin understood now, it was all Kawashima's plan to swoop in and take him whilst Taiga was out, and when she couldn't do anything about it either. It tore her heart even more apart, she gave up her love for him just so Ami would swoop him and take him whilst Taiga wasn't around? No, Minorin wouldn't let that happened. if she could come to her right now and tell her what she had in mind, she would. But she couldn't because she was still in the middle of a practice and she was a president of the softball club.

But tomorrow Minorin decided she would confront her face to face, she had to, if she wouldn't Ami would win his heart for sure.

A ball flew past her head, bringing her back to reality.

"Hey, president Kushieda are you okay?" one of the team members asked her, she turned around them with a smile

"Of course, i just got a little lost in a thought is all hehe" Minorin laughed it off as she put on her happy go lucky facade, in that regard she was no different from Ami.

They both started walking out of the school and towards the restaurant next to each other. She made sure to be as close to him as she possibly could, Takasu didn't minded that however.

But someone saw them together, and that someone was Kushieda on her softball practice. She stopped everything to look at them.

Minorin understood now, it was all Kawashima's plan to swoop in and take him whilst Taiga was out of the picture, and when Minorin couldn't do anything about it either. It tore her heart even more apart, she gave up her love for him just so Ami would swoop him and take him whilst Taiga wasn't around? No, Kushieda wouldn't let that happened. if she could come to her right now and tell her what she had in mind, she would. But she couldn't, because she was still in the middle of a practice and she was a president of the softball club.

But tomorrow Minorin decided she would confront her face to face, she had to, if she wouldn't Ami would win his heart for sure.

A ball flew past her head, bringing her back to reality.

"Hey, president Kushieda are you okay?" one of the team members asked her, she turned around them with a smile

"Of course, i just got a little lost in a thought is all hehe" Minorin said as she put on her happy go lucky facade, in that regard she was no different from Ami.

Kawashima was almost rubbing her arm on Ryuuji's. She wanted to be with him so badly, she was almost imagining them together, it was a really beautiful thought, but it was just that.

"Thanks for hanging out with me and all, i really appreciate it, especially now" Ryuuji smiled a bit at Ami that she wanted to hang out with him.

It made Ami really happy that she could help him, if he wasn't around she would blush like crazy.

"No problem Takasu, i just saw you and i knew that something wasn't right, and i guess i was right... " Ami trailed off looking down, she didn't wanted him to suffer, but she couldn't help him nor do anything about it, or rather the only thing she could do was to console him.

Silence filled the area around them, they both kept silent for a few moments, until Ryuuji spoke up

"Yeah, well you already know what happened between me and Kushieda, and the rest is well because Taiga had to leave to hang out with her mom" Takasu explained with a sad look on his face, he missed Taiga so much even though she was only gone for a few hours. He loved her that much.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that..." Kawashima said like she really cared, but if you really knew her you could tell that she was rather nonchalant about it.

"... Speaking of which, so are you and Taiga dating?" Ami asked him, trying her hardest not to sound like she was interested in him, but instead trying to sound like a good friend asking just for fun.

But Ryuuji could tell she was acting really off that day, but it wasn't her normal acting, she sounded genuine at times, it all made him confused as to what Kawashima wanted to achieve.

"Yeah we are, say i wanted to ask you've been acting a bit wierd today towards me, normally you're all bitter and cold towards me, what changed?" Ryuuji asked Ami who was acting really suspicious in his eyes. Kawashima froze a bit, because she thought her plan would not be seen through. But then again it was Takasu afterall, he knew how she really was so of course he'd find her acting like that wierd.

Not to mention him saying that he is dating Aisaka made her heart sunk a lot because she knew that they were dating by how close they were together on the trip, but hearing it in his words was all the worse, and it also made her extremely jealous, but she wouldn't admit that to herself.

"Nothing changed, i just didn't wanted to be so harsh on you because i see how much you're suffering and i don't want to bring you down unlike miss Sunshine" Kawashima looked down again with a sad look on her face. she sounded really sincere so it was unknown to Takasu if she was lying or not, it started giving him a headache so he dropped it.

"Anyways i'm happy you two got together, i know you two are gonna be happy " Kawashima forced herself to say that so she would throw off any remaining suspicion he might had for her, It gone a bit off the track of her plan, but it was blessing in a disguise because he now saw her as a good friend who cared for him. Though it almost made her sick just by thinking about that sentence let alone saying it. She tried to sound like herself so she wouldn't be found out by him again, and it seemed like he bought it.

"Thank you Kawashima, i really love her more than anything, so i'm sure that we will" Ryuuji nodded and smiled a bit, she reassured him that everything is going to be okay.

Those words really stung Ami, but she managed to make it through the pain.

"Yeah i can tell" Kawashima said sounding a bit sad, Ryuuji noticed it again, something really was up with her, but what? Sometimes he really had no idea what was going on inside her head, maybe she was right about being a few steps ahead of him in that regard.

They talked back and forth about mostly random stuff for a while until they reached Takasu's home.

"Anyways, we're here" Ryuuji said as he walked towards his home, Kawashima did not payed attention to the time and neither to where she was, all she cared about was talking to Takasu, and so she was really surprised when they already reached his house.

"I'm guessing that i can't stay over your place for a while?" Kawashima asked really nicely, she wanted to spend with him as long as she could, and also because she wanted to make him hers. And she knew that the easiest way to do that is to be there for a person when their mentally at their lowest, you can manipulate a person however you want afterwards.

"I'm sorry, i really can't. I still need to talk with my mother about the career plan, and i need to make dinner" Ryuuji said rather coldly towards her, it wasn't that he didn't wanted her over, he was just too busy to really hang out.

"I'm pretty good in the kitchen, i can help you if you want" Kawashima offered to help him, which she very rarely did. Ryuuji nodded a no though.

"Thank you, but i feel like i would be just asking you for too much, you helped me, listened to me when i needed to talk to someone and i couldn't ask for more" Ryuuji rejected her offer, he spoke truth. he was happy that someone helped him so much, because he simply wasn't used to it. It usually was just him helping Taiga out with everything, so it was nice change of pace but Kawashima did so much for him that day that he felt he would asking for too much.

Kawashima dropped her head down a bit, she felt really sad that she was rejected just like that without him it even giving it any thought, but that was Takasu. Selfless, kind and caring. Maybe that's why she fell in love with him.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then" Kawashima said to him still a bit sad, she was back to her usual self again, even he could tell that. Takasu nodded

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Kawashima and thanks again, for everything" Ryuuji smiled at her and waved her off. "No problem Takasu, I'll be there for you if you need me" Kawashima said in her normal tone as she turned around and walked off to the direction of her home. Ryuuji wondered what was really with her, because he knew that she wasn't telling him the whole story when she said she did it only because she didn't wanted to bring him down any more than he already was. Maybe she wasn't few steps afterall.

Kawashima smiled wickedly.

Her plan for that day wasn't a complete failure like she thought it would be, she succeeded in making him trust her, but she knew she would have to go all out if she wanted him for herself, because his love for Taiga was just that strong.

End of Chapter 4 - Calm Before The Storm

**Writer's Note:**

23/11/19 20:07

I'm gonna take a break for a day or two because i feel like i've been rushing the chapters too much plus i don't want to burn myself out completly. Because i burned myself out a lot writing Chapter 3. i'll hopefully do new drafts tomorrow for the previous 3 chapters to make them a bit better because some parts out right sucked in my opinion. Maybe i'll start writing Chapter 4 tomorrow, though i doubt it'll be out before Tuesday.

25/11/19 14:09

So, i skipped writing yesterday too, because i was simply not in the mood for it, though i kinda feel like writing a bit today. Hopefully should have it atleast half way done so i can finish it properly tomorrow, though no promises.

26/11/19 6:45

Okay, so i'd say i finished it yesterday till like 45%, maybe more i can't really tell yet. But atleast. I got story arcs all figured for the chapter so i'll definately finish i later on today.

26/11/19 16:38

Currently working on the other part of the chapter, i'm gonna do my best to finish it today.

26/11/19 20:33

I finally finished it, though i had to go out to the cold outside and sit on a wet bench for about an hour to finish it today since my wifi stopped working and i ran out of data, the end is kind of rushed a bit because of it, though i'm way more happy with how this chapter turned out than the last one (though i feel like i kinda screwed up with Kawashima's character a bit, so i'm change that in a new draft which i'm probably gonna do tomorrow instead of writing a new chapter)


	5. Chapter 5 - All's Fair In Love and War

**(For once i would like you all to read this part) **

Hello, Totenwelt here! Finally after 3 days of taking an absense from writing because of some personal issues but here i am again! Better than ever, or so i say. i've been having a rather bad time in the real life, so i hope that it's not going to ruin my writing. Also this chapter is going to be rather short (shorter than all the other chapters i believe) as this was supposed to be bundled with the last chapter but i decided it would be better to split it up, which i rather regret now. I will start writing next chapter right after posting this chapter as i found new motivation to make this, sorry again for taking so long with this chapter, but my demons got the better of me for those past few days. Also i apologize for the lack of quality on this one as i really struggled to finish this mostly because of the dialogue that i had to write from the anime which is both not fun and tidious and overall i did not enjoy making this chapter though i doubt i can make it any better at this stage (i'll come back to it once i'l lstart doing a remaster draft of the whole story once i'm done with it) . Also, no writer's note on this chapter as i felt they were too much personal and too much like a shout for help rather than having to do anything with the chapter i hope you all don't mind. Anyhow have a good day y'all, peace for now!

**Shoutouts:**

You know how this goes already, thank you all who read this stuff, you're all bloody awesome, i really do mean it. You reading this helps me get through the day. Especially now when i'm going through some rather bad times. (note this was written right after the last chapter, i am doing better now)

**Special Shoutouts:**

**Dreamer15147** thanks for once again liking the last chapter, it really helps a lot to hear someone enjoys my work, and i hope you'll like this chapter as well

**RokenDarkly** No you are my friend! Thanks for enjoying my work, i will keep writing don't worry about that. But i am still not sure about an afterstory, maybe after i finish up the story and a reworked draft for all the chapters i'll do a afterstory, though no promises as i don't know what sort of story it would have.

Ps: sorry for not having more fanfictions, i recently started with this (i wrote my own light novel before, and tried to write a few fanfictions but i always scrapped them) but i'll definately have more as the time will go on

**(Story begins here)**

It was a beautiful and a bright day outside. The windows of the school shined brightly because of the sun beams ricocheting against them.

Everyone was happy and cheery, as they were chatting and hanging out as they all prepared to enter their classes on time.

Well, everyone besides Ryuuji Takasu.

The boy was really gloomy and sad that day, checking his phone almost desperately for messages from his lover. Though no messages ever reached him back which drove him into sadness.

He was worried sick about what happened to her, so much so that the very visible dark lines around his rather dangerous looking eyes and the constant yawning indicated that he couldn't sleep because of it.

Not to mention a mess of a hair Takasu had on his head, normally he would have it groomed nicely though this time it was unkept mess even though he had rather short hair.

On top of all that Ryuuji's stomach gurgled very loudly, signaling that he had not ate yet on top of all that. Ryuuji was virtually and physically unrecognizable to his normal self, all this because he missed Taiga so much.

It was taking an extremely unhealthy toll on him, and others could easily see that.

Ryuuji looked at his phone again, he received five unread messages, all from one person Ami Kawashima.

Takasu felt bad for not responding to those messages, but he knew deep down that if he didn't wanted help from others because he knew that it would only lead to them getting hurt because of it, maybe that's why he's always been such a loner. But besides, he would be fine once Taiga returned, or would he?

He didn't knew himself anymore.

Ryuuji very slowly picked up his school boots and put them on.

"Don't worry she's fine!" Out of seemingly nowhere outcame Minorin Kushieda with her happy go lucky attitude as she leaned in closer to Ryuuji to cheer him on.

In reality she was as devastated if not more than Ryuuji, though she had to be strong for both him and Taiga because her job wasn't done yet, not with Kawashima playing her mind games and trying to ruin what she had gave her feelings up for, so Minorin kept on smiling.

Seeing Kushieda smiling so brightly reminded him of the times when Taiga smiled as brightly as Minorin always does, sure they're rare moments but they're the moments. It gave him flashbacks of all the good times they had together, and all the times where he felt like everything was bad but her smile made all his worries disappear.

So inadvertently Minorin really cheered Ryuuji on, so much so he was even smiling a bit from the pleasant flashbacks.

He nodded and started walking together with Minorin up the stairs.

Though a weird distance was still between them, even though they were standing next to each other it was as if they were worlds apart, but maybe that was for the best afterall.

"Taiga always said how her and her real mom got along okay so i wouldn't be worried... " Kushieda said as Ryuuji and her walked up the stairs to enter class, her demeanor was still like her usual facade, happy and cheery even in the face of great misfortune.

Ryuuji got another flashback to her mom having a tantrum after Taiga told she's not gonna go with her after the mountain incident, which made him chuckle a bit, but then again he had another flashback of how she was dragged out by her own mother the day before which made him sad again that she was gone.

Seeing as Ryuuji put on a sad face once again Minorin decided she would continue the conversation and try to make him smile again

"... Infact, I bet their spending some quality mom-daughter time together" Minorin pointed out as she tried to make Ryuuji feel less bad, and it worked. Takasu felt better at the realization that's it's not all in vain.

"Yeah, sure you're probably right" Ryuuji smiled at Minorin as someone made it's way up the stairs, It was none other than the council president and their friend Kitamaru Yusaku.

"Hey Kushieda!" Kitamura greeted Minorin as he turned over to Ryuuji who he had not seen before as he greeted her

"Oh hey Takasu" Kitamura greeted Ryuuji with a bright smile as he usually was.

"Hey" Ryuuji greeted him back still with a smile on his face

"Oh that's right! You still need our budget.." Minorin said as she bowed her head down and smiled

"I'm sorry i'll turn it in later" Kushieda apologized as she continued to smile and bow her head down

"Well, I'm looking forward to it new team captain, well gotta run see ya!" Kitamura said as he waved off and went as fast he came. Hearing that made Ryuuji raise his eyebrow a bit, new team captain? Minorin was the women's softball team captain already so what new captain was she of?

Not to mention it was a bit strange of Kitamura to just show up and leave so suddenly when class was right around the corner, then again he was the council president.

"Woozers, seems that president is keeping really busy" Kushieda noted in her happy go lucky facade. Ryuuji was a bit confused as to why was Kitamura running away opposite to the direction of the class when first period was about to happen in a few minutes, though he left it be not thinking much of it. Then he remembered Kitamura saying the new captain which raised his eyebrow a bit

"Why do you say new captain? I thought you already were the captain of the girls team" Ryuuji asked Minorin, who didn't told him yet about the merging of the clubs, which makes sense as they didn't talked for quite the long time.

"Well you know how Kitamaru is busy with the student council? We decided to combine both the boys and girls team, and then they went and made me a leader of both"

"Wow" Ryuuji was impressed that she had the time and mental strength to lead two clubs and have a part time job whilst still attending school on top of that.

"Wow is me for being as busy as Kitamura, i have so much to do i barely have time to breathe"

"Aren't you overloading yourself?" Ryuuji asked concerned for his friend, even though he knew it was in her nature to overload herself, it came across him that she was overloading herself exceptionally a lot in the last couple of day.

"Not at all, overloading yourself is what being young is all about, loading yourself up for a challenges"

"You'll end up spreading yourself too thin" Takasu noted concerned again, it was apparent that she would have quite the hard time keeping up with all the stuff she had to do in the future, and he didn't wanted to see her struggling like that.

"Not true" Minorin cut off Ryuuji before he could continue coldly, she was thankful that Ryuuji cared for her well being, but she was overloading herself mostly to have something that would take her mind off of him so if he dwelled any further her hardwork would be thrown out of the window.

"I'm working super hard to make sure that doesn't happen" Kushieda continued, she was determined to make herself happy in other ways than dating Takasu, she had to for both Taiga and him, they wouldn't like to see her suffer like that after all.

"Huh?" Ryuuji was confused as to what she meant by that, as those two things were opposing each other.

"Yeah, cuz like it's one thing i can see"

"What do you mean see?" Ryuuji was still confused as to what she meant by that, did it had a deeper meaning like when she talked about ghosts and ufo's? He had no idea anymore.

Minorin turned away from Ryuuji to see none other than the person she was looking for, Ami Kawashima.

Kushieda greeted her energetically as she waved towards her, and even though she was smiling as bright as a sun towards her in reality if it weren't for Ryuuji being present she would go off and straight up confront her, but until he was around she couldn't do a thing, so she kept waving as that was the only thing she could do.

Ami walked past the two as she didn't even said a word, it hurt Kawashima beyond words to see Ryuuji suffer so much as much as it made her sad that she was reminded again that he didn't replied to any of her texts, let alone let her help him.

Ryuuji would normally say something against her ignoring them like that, but seeing as he ignored her messages he decided to stay silent and do nothing for once which was rather uncharacteristic of him.

Minorin dropped her happy go lucky facade for a little bit as she looked at Ami who was walking off most likely to her favourite spot between the vending machines with disgust and hatred towards the blue haired model.

"Sorry Takasu, gonna get going. Achoo!" Minorin waved off Ryuuji as she naruto-ran down the hall following Ami.

"Wait, where is everyone going? What about the class?" Takasu asked himself out loud as he walked off to his class and started to prepare for the class.

Ami was sitting in between the two vending machines as she always did.

Though this time she was way more gloomy and sad that Ryuuji did not replied to her messages and overall didn't wanted her help, but she wasn't running away from the situation because she was sad, no rather she retreated to think of a new plan because plan B did not worked because of Ryuuji's nature.

Kawashima realized that she really would have to do something extremely drastic in order to make him hers, that thing that she hoped she wouldn't have to do, hell she felt sick for even thinking of going through that plan, for both the action and for the consequences that would lead afterwards. Noone would be the same that was for sure.

Ami heard steps coming towards her, she lit up like a Christmas tree thinking Ryuuji was coming to talk to her as the school bell rang, but then Kawashima's expression quickly turned into a sour one as she saw Minorin closing in to her. Ami looked away in disgust as she didn't wanted to talk to Minorin of all people seeing as Ryuuji had a crush on her and because she was Taiga's best friend.

"Ha! Trying to ditch the first period huh?" Minorin asked her as she bowed a bit to be a little closer to her, Kushieda tried her best not to snap at her and break her happy go lucky facade.

Kawashima simply sighed

"Why did it have to be you?" Ami asked herself out loud, if it only were Ryuuji who chased after her.

"Well, i have to talk to you about something, plus he already went to class" Minorin said in a serious tone as she dropped her happy go lucky persona. Hearing the second part completely shocked Kawashima, did Kushieda figured out what she was trying to do?

"W-what do you mean?" Ami tried to keep her mature facade up, but Minorin really caught her extremely off guard with that.

"Kawashima, please just leave them alone would you?" Minorin asked her in a serious tone, she wasted no time getting to the point. Kawashima understood exactly what she meant by that, it annoyed her more than made her worried that her plan would be foiled. She close her eyes and stood up

"I'm sorry Kushieda, but i can't do that. I just can't give up my feelings for him. You know i wish i had the same strength as you to leave my feelings be" Ami explained as she walked past Minorin and was about to walk to her class, but then something squeezed her arm. Ami turned around to see who it was, to a surprise of none it was Kushieda who had her head lowered as droplets fell on the ground underneath her.

"Still it's not right, no i won't let you do this, stop this or i'm gonna..." Minorin trailed off as she tried to think of what she'll do.

"Do what? Tell Taiga? Who is right now unreachable. Or Ryuuji? I doubt he'll listen to you after you abandoned him yesterday" Kawashima's words stabbed through Kushieda's heart, because she was right she was powerless to stop her.

Kushieda let go of Kawashima's sleeve and dropped on her knees crying. Minorin couldn't stop her, she had this all this planned out. If only she had the strength to straighten things out with him yesterday instead of running away maybe he would listen to her, but now Ami had him around her finger, or so she thought.

"Look, i don't want to hurt you Kushieda, so just keep out of this okay?" Kawashima pleaded with Kushieda as she stopped for a second and slightly turned her head towards her, and then started walking away leaving Minorin to her grief alone.

Half a day later.

Ryuuji sat on his chair. He held the hairpin that started all that mess, it reminded him of what happened again, even few days later it was still just unreal to him, in a way it was both a curse and a blessing that it happened. He looked to the box where he had all the things he prepared if he and Minorin started dating, thought that never happened. Takasu sat down to the box "I guess she really hates me now, i better seal this away then, it's only right" Takadu thought to himself as he held the hairpin in his hand, he wanted to give it to Taiga as a present, but later he felt it would be too tacky if he gave her something that wasn't meant for her in the first place, not to mention that the hairpin had a rather bleak history thanks to the accident on the mountain.

So Ryuuji decided he would seal the box and the hairpin and vowed to never open it again.

He took the now sealed box and put it in a closed closet.

Ryuuji walked back to his chair and sat down on it, he slouched down on the table as he felt lonely again due to Taiga still not messaging him anything back and overall for her not being there with him. As Ryuuji was lying on his table being miserable he noticed a box, he quickly recognized that it was the box he made if he started dating Taiga.

Seeing it made him sigh, he sadly got up and opened the box, there was only one thing, a necklace.

That necklace was a standard necklace one would buy to a loved one, but this one was a bit different. Rather than having a heart symbol or something along those lines of that, it had a Tiger and a Dragon on a weight scale, it was a weird ornament but Ryuuji liked it a lot because it reminded him of what he told Taiga around the time when they first met, That Dragon is going to always be a on par with the Tiger, beautifully enough even a year later it was still true. And Takasu was sure that Taiga would like it as well, or rather he hoped she would.

Ryuuji sighed sadly and closed that box, he really wanted to give it to her but she wasn't around so it had to sadly stay in the box until she came around.

Few hours later.

Ryuuji sat on his chair home once again as he checked his phone for any messages from Taiga for about the millionth time that day, he couldn't stop looking at it because he wanted to see a reply of some sorts so badly, but none ever reached him.

Defeated, he placed the phone on his table as he lied on it sad once again.

Takasu stayed that way for maybe few hours, he did not knew as he just didn't cared nor did he had the strength to get up anymore.

Ryuuji just wanted Taiga to be around him, he couldn't handle it being without her for even just a few days.

Though as he thought of her again during his defeated state he noted that it's taking her a long time to come back, she was out for almost 2 days at that point, was her mom dragging her out that long? Or perhaps something else was amiss, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Ryuuji continued to lie on the table, still without the strength or a reason to get up.

Until his phone rang, Ryuuji bolted up as he heard that and quickly checked his phone ecstatically, but then his excitement died down by an extreme lot.

Takasu expected a text from Taiga but it was only Kawashima.

"Hey Takasu, do you mind if we go to school together?" The text from Kawashima read, Ryuuji wondered why she wanted to go to the school specifically, but he left it be again, though more and more Ryuuji started to notice that she was acting very weirdly towards him in the last couple of days, but he couldn't figure out why was she doing that.

"Hey, yeah sure we can. When do you want to meet?" Ryuuji texted back as his mind wondered off to try and figure out why was she acting that way, even forgetting about Taiga for a little while.

"Whoa, i actually got a reply. Also i'll wait outside your house around 7:20, is that okay?" Kawashima texted with her classic sarcastic remark.

"Yeah, no problem. See you tomorrow Kawashima" Ryuuji replied to her once again as he looked at a small clock he had on his desk. It was a few minutes after 8pm, Takasu sighed as he put his phone away and looked out of his window, it was pitch black, so much so that he couldn't even see the window of Taiga's apartment.

Ryuuji's phone rang again, it was another text from Kawashima

"See you tomorrow Ryuuji, Good night" the text read. Once again it gave Ryuuji some weird vibes, but he decided he would ignore it and not text her back.

He left his phone on the table and started preparing his futon.

Few minutes later he prepared it all and turned off all the lights around the house.

Ryuuji walked over to his futon and climbed inside it, he tried to fall asleep soundly but he couldn't do it, he tried to fall asleep because he couldn't sleep much the day before, but again to no avail.

Takasu missed having Taiga so much around him that he couldn't even sleep without her, that's how bad it's gotten.

He missed how she slept on his chest, hell even just hearing her breathe made his heart so much at ease he missed it so much, but she still wasn't with him, which made him extremely sad.

Despite that he eventually fell asleep as he was completely exhausted from not sleeping at all the day before.

Kawashima sat in her chair checking her phone, Ryuuji didn't replied to her text, which made her a bit sad but that sadness was quickly wiped away as she reminded herself that he's going to be hers. Ami smiled from ear to ear as she went over her plan again, it was perfect in every way, but then her smile disappeared as she realized again what she was going to do and the outcome of her plan.

But despite that Ami decided she would go through it, she couldn't bear being without Ryuuji anymore.

Plus, as Ami said herself before, all's fair in love and war.

She let her phone on the table and went to sleep.

It was going to be a wild day tomorrow.

**End of Chapter 5 - All's Fair In Love and War**


	6. Chapter 6 - The Storm

**[You know what to do if you want to read just the story] **

Hello, Totenwelt here! So, here we are at the climax and hopefully the high point of this story (don't worry, we still got 2-3 chapters left to wrap this up) I have to say a few things, first i apologize for bringing in my personal life into this, i know you all are here to read the story and not listen to about the feelings of a stranger on the internet, but thanks a lot to those who cared about it anyway (you know who you are). Second, Despite me saying that i don't want to talk about my personal issues i still feel like you all deserve an explanation as to what happend with me for lack of a lenght on the last chapter, so here's what happend: basically i was dumped by my significant other that i dated for a year about a month ago, (fun fact i started writing this as a way to cope with my depression that i had because of that. I wanted this to be a romance fluff oneshot originally but my feelings made it into the drama/romance that this story turned into) And basically that said person made it's way into my life again, causing me extreme sadness, hatred and flustrations, all that bundled made me basically a walking corpse both mentally and physically. I abused drugs like crazy because i felt it was only way for me to even get through it, and somehow i did. Though i'm not gonna lie there were quite a lot of times where i felt like, giving up i suppose one could say.

Anyways that's the reason why i took such a long break, I'm doing somewhat better now so hopefully i should be able to make better chapters again for you guys and gals. Anyways cheers for now and i hope you'll enjoy the chapter!

(Update: So things gone hill again unfortunately as i started having some issues home, so that sort of hinders my ability to write, i apologize in advance for that.)

**Shoutouts**:

Thanks again for everyone that checked out my latest chapter despite it sucking massive arse, i really apreciate every single person who read it. You people are awesome.

**Special Shoutouts:**

**Dreamer15147 **And i thank you for leaving a review on every single chapter so far, mate you motivate me to keep writing and atleast try to improve as the chapters goes to make the hedt possible stuff for you and the rest. So thank you so much. It means a lot to me. And as for the rest, it's been going somewhat okay before but as i said before in the post up ahead things kinda fell down the shitter again. But i'll bounce back eventually, so no worries.

Anyhow i hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

**[Story Begins Here] **

Rays of sunlight slowly made it's way onto Ryuuji's face, the slight irritation caused him to try slowly opening his eyes, though that did not work because they were welded shut by the dried up tears still left over from the day before. Once realizing that the now awake Ryuuji wiped away those tears with his thumb and a index finger. Ryuuji raised his upper body as he rubbed his eyes because he still wasn't used to the extremely bright light outside, after a while of finally getting used to the light Takasu got out of his futon and up his feet, whilst he done that he yawned a lot and stretched himself out because his body was really sore for some reason.

Ryuuji walked out of his room and into the living room, he looked around to hear that Yasuko was sleeping soundly in her room and that Inko was still asleep as well under the blanket of the cage.

Ryuuji walked into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast for him and his mother, normally he'd make one for Taiga, but well she wasn't around.

Ryuuji made the breakfast and lunch as usual, but something was bugging him, as if he forgot about something. He looked around the kitchen and livingroom trying to figure out what it was, he looked at the clock specifically, it read 7:40, it reminded him of something, but Ryuuji couldn't put his finger on it.

Then it hit him, he was supposed to meet Kawashima infront of his apartment by 7:20, it was 7:40 exactly and he wasn't dressed let alone prepared to go to the school.

"Oh crap" Ryuuji muttered to himself as he realized his grave error so he rushed over to his room where his phone was still laying on his desk.

Takasu picked it up to see that he had 4 unread messages and 2 missed calls. All from Ami Kawashima, or so he thought. Takasu turned pale as he realized that he completely forgot about meeting her outside.

He took his phone, and typed "I'm sorry, give me a second, i'll be right there." without even checking what the messages contained and who wrote them before hand. Ryuuji put the phone in his pocket and ran towards his closet, there he took his school uniform from the closet and put it on in the matter of a minute or two as he wasted no time and put on his clothes as fast as he could.

Ryuuji picked up his bag that lied on his desk along with his phone and keys and ran back to the kitchen, there he put the lunches into his bag and ran out the door like a tornado, as he got out of his house he realized that he didn't ate the breakfast that he made not even 5 minutes ago, didn't brushed his teeth yet and didn't even shower. Ryuuji was a mess, and the worst thing was that he couldn't go back to right any of his wrong doings as when he ran out of his home it caught the attention of Kawashima who didn't had the kindest of expressions on her face as her gaze was aimed towards Takasu. Seeing that Ryuuji quickly walked down the stairs leading out of his apartment.

The closer he got to her turned her expression from sadness and anger into a pout from her.

"Hey, Kawashima i'm really sorry it took me so long, i didn't checked what time it was" Ryuuji lied a bit, he knew that if he told her the truth she would hate him and his guts, and he couldn't take another person hating him, he truly would be alone then and he didn't wanted that.

Ami still had her head turned around and her arms crossed signaling she was still pouting

"Seriously, i waited here for 20 minutes only now you come out? Geez, next time you're going to wait at my place. C'mon let's go" Ami said as she stopped pouting, but still had that sad and angry look on her face which lead to Ryuuji feeling extremely guilty for leaving her wait like that

"I'm really sorry Kawashima, can i make it up to you in any way?" Takasu begged Kawashima, on her face was still sad and angry expression but in her head she was smiling from ear to ear. Yet another part of her plan worked perfectly, Ami really had him around her finger. Thought it was poetic in a way, she could have him or any other good looking guy by tricking him and acting fake, but she wanted him to see her true self, but yet here she was tricking him and manipulating him into doing her bidding which would lead to them hooking up, or so she thought.

To continue her act, she stopped having that expression and lightened up a little, but not that much as to not raise any suspicion.

"Alright then, how about you call me by my first name from now on? Oh and how about letting me hang out at your place later today?" Ami asked him in a serious tone as to make him understand she was deadset on it, and insinuating that she wouldn't forgive him otherwise. And it worked, as he bowed his head down and nodded

"Okay, you got it Ami" Ryuuji said defeated, instantly her frown was turned upside down, Ami smiled as she realized what she accomplished, she made him say her first name and she also got invited over to his house where her final plan would take place at. Maybe exploiting other's feelings for love isn't so bad afterall she thought.

They both chatted on their way to the school about random things, just to pass the time of the walk.

Ryuuji and Ami eventually made their way to the school where all the students were changing and preparing to go to their class.

They both changed their shoes and went to their class, or rather only Ryuuji did. Ami told him right before heading into the classroom to go without her, so he did as he didn't thought much of it. Ami waited outside of the classroom for a few people, Kitamura who still wasn't in class and the teacher. It was a few minutes but Kitamura made it there eventually

Kitamura waved at his childhood friend

"Hey good morning Ami, so anyways do you still want to sit at that spot?" Kitamura got right to the point as he walked towards Kawashima, it turned out that her favour included switching her and Kitamura's spot as he was sitting next to Ryuuji, it would be only for one day but that's all she would need.

"Hey Yusaku, Good morning to you too. Also yeah i still want that spot just for today" Ami nodded, she knew that she couldn't lie her way past him so she had to tell him how it is. he was her childhood friend afterall, he knew everything about her, well almost.

Though she kept him in the dark about why she wanted to do it.

"Okay, well i'll sit at your place for today then, just make sure you tell the teachers before hand okay?" Kitamura said orderly as ever, maybe that's why he was such a good council president.

"Don't worry Yusaku, i'm already working on it. Anyways see you after class and thanks again" Kawashima bowed her head down to show her thanks for his help, he was going to help her achieve Ryuuji's love afterall.

"It's no problem Ami, i'll see you after class!" Kitamura waved off as he walked to the class room and sat on her spot. The whole class noticed and were confused as to why the council president was sitting at her spot, even spreading nasty rumors like that she was dating the president and such.

Ami ignored those rumors, though it made her a bit sad that noone even mentioned her and Ryuuji, but it made sense as everyone at the school knew that he and Taiga were dating so he would be the last person they would accuse, still knowing this didn't made her any more happy.

Later, after a few minutes out came the teacher with notes and such in her hand

"Hey, Kawashima what are you doing here? The class already started" the teacher asked Ami a bit worried, it seemed to her something had to happened because she is always with her friends in the back.

"Hello Teacher, i was standing here because you see i wanted to ask you something" Ami said very politely and sincere as to have her wish granted by the teacher, once you know how everyone is like it's easy to manipulate their emotions and responses.

"Please let me switch the spot with me and the council president for today, you see normally i take eye contacts to school, but i couldn't find them and my glasses today, so i can't see very well, so council president decided to help me out by switching my spot with his which is way closer to the board" Ami flat on lied to the teacher with her happy go lucky persona, she didn't cared that she lied and manipulated people around for her benefit anymore, se saw it clearly now. Kawashima had to lie and manipulate everyone to finally find that happiness that she longed for so long. Ami wanted Ryuuji to care about her, to love her just like he cares about and loves Taiga, and she would do anything at that point to get him to love her.

"Oh i see, well it's okay if it's only one time as that happens to us all, just make sure to bring your glasses next time okay?" The teacher accepted her idea as they both walked into the class room, and the class begun. Ryuuji was surprised to see Kawashima sitting next to him, but he figured that there had to be a reason why she was swapped with Kitamura so he didn't dwelled on it.

But Kawashima was overjoyed that her plan worked out, so much so that quite a wicked smile formed across her face from reminding herself that everything was going to plan.

Few hours passed.

Both Ami and Ryuuji sat down together with their lunches. As per usual Kawashima had quite a rich lunch full of meat, unlike Ryuuji who had rice and vegetable related food way more than meat. They both sat at a different tables courtesy of Kitamura asking Kushieda if he could sit with her on the lunch because of the favour Kawashima asked him off, and she told the others girls and guys to keep out of it. She really had him cornered very well.

Though Minorin couldn't take it anymore, she saw him just practically falling into her trap, and she knew once he fell for it wouldn't be reversible anymore, and she couldn't even imagine what would happen if it really happened, but once again she was powerless to stop her, she couldn't do anything but to watch and see.

Minorin bowed down her head with a defeated look as she put on a very sad face, though Kitamura couldn't see it because her bangs were covering up her face from an angle. Though Kitamura still could hear that something was not okay with Kushieda, it was his first time seeing her being so down and not bright as a sun, which made him really worried.

"Hey, Kushieda? Is everything okay?" Kitamura asked worried as he looked at Minorin who started lightly sobbing and crying.

Kushieda shook her head violently

"No, nothing is okay anymore, she won and it's all my fault" Kushieda blamed herself over something that wasn't her fault, though she felt like it was. Minorn begun crying and sobbing louder than ever. Kitamura grabbed her shoulder lightly to comfort her

"What happened?" Kitamura asked simply, something had to happen to her for her to be acting that way, and he was determined to finding out what it was and helping her feel better.

Minorin kept weeping, choosing not to answer as she knew it was pointless, it wouldn't change a thing, or would it?

Maybe, just maybe if she told him he would talk to her out of doing it, and all would be right again she thought.

Kitamura kept looking at her worried as she kept being silent. Minorin started raising up her head to meet Kitamura's glare and mustered up her courage to tell him the truth.

"She's trying to ruin Taiga's relationship by stealing Ryuuji, and i can't stop it" Kushieda somehow powered through to say the whole sentence, shortly after that her head fell down again and she started to weep even more than before.

Kitamura stood there frozen with shock, was that the plan she had in mind the whole time? There's no way she could do something so awful, Kitamura knew her since childhood and there's no way she would act this sinister no matter what happened, sure she was a stuck up and had a bit of a bitchy attitude sometime, but she never would do something so bad as to ruin not one but two lives for her own benefits. Something wasn't right in that scenario, It wasn't that it came off as Minorin who was lying, but it just seemed weird to him, something wasn't adding up and Kitamura was determined to find out what it was.

"Okay, give me a second i'll take care of this" Kitamura said simply yet firmly, his voice gave off a rather menacing tone, such that noone really heard before as he usually came off as a very chill person.

Kushieda looked up to him with hope in her expression, her eyes were shinning because of the tears still present, she was for the first time in a while truly smiling, not her facade but her true self.

"Thank you" Minorin thanked Kitamura who was already on his way to Ryuuji's and Ami's table they sat at, she slouched down not even eating anymore, but atleast she had hope that he could save Ryuuji and Taiga, if he couldn't noone could.

He walked up to Ami who didn't noticed him and kept talking to Ryuuji who noticed him standing behind her with such a intense expression he never seen before.

"Ami? You and i need to talk, right now" Kitamura asked firmly, yet simply without hesitation, sure she was his best friend but the magnitude of the situation and potential outcome outweighed their friendship.

Surprised, Ami turned to him as he said that not knowing what gotten into him and what he had to say, when she was turning she saw Minorin crying in the back and understood right there what was going on. Minorin snitched on her like a bloody rat, though Kawashima was a bit impressed, she didn't thought that she would do something so clever yet simple, so she was completely caught off guard, though she knew she could get out of it one way or the other, she was Ami Kawashima afterall.

Ami looked at him now with a serious look and simply nodded without saying anything, she got up and together they starting walking somewhere where they would be private. Before Ryuuji could ask what was going on they walked so far away that they wouldn't hear him.

The place that they chose, or rather the place Ami chose was the place that she always sat at next to the vending machines and up the stairs.

The walk there was long and uncomfortable as nothing but silence and their footsteps echoed in the now empty hallway.

After a few minutes of walking they finally made their way to the vending machines. Ami threw some yen into the vending machine and bought a drink of some sorts to ease up a bit.

Kitamura simply adjusted his glasses, in his mind he was just thinking of the right words to tell her to change her mind as she would only listen to clear headed people who spoke on her level.

Kawashima picked up the drink from the vending machine and opened it, still facing the vending machine as her back faced Kitamura.

"Why don't you stop this madness Ami?" Kitamura fired right off the bat, they both understood what was going on so what was the point of trying to hide it. Ami simply took a sip from her drink

"It's simple Yusaku, i told Minorin this already and i'll tell you the same way. I can't take it anymore without him, he's the only one who truly understands me, not you truly understand the real me." Ami replied coldly, she felt really bad for her actions that happened and were about to happen, but she just had to because noone else would ever truly understand her and she needed that more than anything, she would do anything infact for that, even stop being friends with her childhood friend.

"Still, it's not right to do that. Once someone is in a relationship you should respect that and wait for the person to be single again and then ask them out. Not sabotaging that relationship and ruining friendships because of it!" Kitamura raised his voice, which was once again unusual for him as he only really did that when he was having a mental breakdown as the ex-council president who was his crush was leaving the school to go become an Astronaut in U.S.A.

Kawashima squeezed her tin can as she heard that, that remark riled her up.

She turned around with tears in her eyes and with a pissed off look on her face.

"Oh shut up Yusaku! I'm doing what i'm doing only because she went ahead and took him for herself so quickly" Kawashima yelled at Kitamura in a very serious tone as she started breathing heavily and dropped her down

Kitamura was silent, he chose not to speak to hear what she had to say for herself

"Maybe if she didn't claimed him on that day i would have moved on eventually and not be this way..." Ami yelled again, though this time she just faced the floor as she didn't raised her head and instead kept looking at the ground below her refusing to look Kitamura in the eyes as she begun crying ever so slowly, it was a weird feeling for her, she never really cried that much as she didn't cared for anyone, but here she was crying because of a boy she loved.

Kitamura didn't moved and inch and kept being silent as he listened to what she had to say.

"Plus, i know that she's going to hurt him eventually, so i want to save him from that. Just look how much he's hurting right now!" Kawashima pointed out as she stopped crying and raised her head and met Kitamura's glare with a determined look on her face, with only traces of tears appearing in the corners of her eyes.

"Maybe, but still it isn't right. I know i can't really stop you, but please reconsider Ami. If you go through with this you're not only ruin and destroy their relationship, but the friendships of many others, include ours." Kitamura finally spoke up, his words had both reminded her of what was in the stakes and threatened her passively. Ami keot looking him in the eyes and simply nodded

"I know Yusaku, but i chose to walk on this path already. If you'll hate me for i won't blame you, as a part of me already does but i accepted that i would have to sacrifice everything if i had to, all just to be with him" Ami looked down as she said that, it wasn't morally right to do it, but she just had to, or did she? For once in her life she decided she would trust her feelings rather than her brain. She'd burn the whole world down if she had to, just to be with him.

"I see, well can't say i didn't try. I wish it didn't had to come to this Ami, but then again it wouldn't be you if you gave up on something once you had it in mind. Though compared to those times i can't support your actions this time, so unless you change your mind then i cannot be friends with a person that used to be Ami Kawashima" Kitamura said simply, though deep down he was hurting too, he didn't wanted to do that, but as both council president and their friend he had to look out for the mass who is the in the right rather than supporting his childhood friend that was in the wrong. He thought that this would finally make her stop.

"I wish it didn't had to come to this too, but even after all that i accept my fate, anyways thanks for being my friend for so long" Ami said as she walked away from both the vending machines and Kitamura, she was visibly shaking up as she realized that she just lost her childhood friend because of her love to Ryuuji. Though sacrifices had to be made, she didn't expected him to have a problem with it seeing as he supported them hooking up. Yusaku didn't really understood, noone did, well noone but Ryuuji, she thought. Was she saying the truth or was she trying to make herself believe that? She didn't knew anymore.

Once Ami disappeared behind the corner Kitamura broke down, he rubbed his face as he teared up from realizing how much he lost. he failed Minorin, Ryuuji and Taiga as he couldn't change her mind and because he couldn't bring her back to reality thus losing her completely. Kitamura felt as a failure of a council president and as a friend. He sat in the spot between the two vending machines that Ami usually sat at and he curled up into a ball with his knees hitting his head.

After a few minutes of composing himself Kitamura walked back to where all the students were finishing up eating their lunches, though he now had a look of absolute defeat on his face, as if he just lost the will to even exist at that moment. Minorin looked at him with a bright expression that hoped for good news more than anything else. Yusaku walked to her table still with that defeated look and said "I'm sorry" and then just left the room without saying anything else.

Minorin's bright and hopeful expression quickly turned into one of sadness and sorrow she had before, but this time it was even worse.

Ami on the other hand recovered quite quickly, she simply sat next to Ryuuji as if nothing happened

"Hey, what happened back there?" Ryuuji asked worried after seeing Kitamura being so gloomy and down.

So many weird things were happening in the last couple of days around Kawashima that even Ryuuji started to notice it, she was up to something, he couldn't tell but he knew something was wrong, and it wasn't anything good by how Kitamura looked and by how weirdly she acted around him. Ryuuji decided he would put an end to it, he would ask her later after school once they were alone.

"Oh, nothing i just had to talk to Kitamura about school uniforms, he wanted me to model them but i said no" Ami lied straight into his face, it didn't mattered anymore, he would be hers very soon and after that it won't mean anything that she lied to his face a few times she thought.

"I see" Ryuuji said skeptically, he didn't believed what she said as no way in hell would Kitamura look so sad and defeated if she just rejected his offer, plus the way he came up to her looking all serious and sinister was weird too, something wasn't adding up, but he couldn't ask her as he knew that Ami wouldn't tell him the truth. So Ryuuji decided he would wait for lunch to be over and he would ask Kitamura himself what happened, before that though he had to finish his lunch, so he did. He continued to chat with Ami normally until the end of the lunch.

After lunch.

Ryuuji said to Ami that he needs to take care of something and that he'll be right back so she should head to the class already, begrudgingly Ami accepted as she didn't wanted to leave his side for both she really enjoyed him being around and secondly she was worried he would accidentally talk to Minorin or Kitamura about what happened, thus ruining her plan when it was right about to happen. But at the end of the day she was completely sure her plan would work so she let him leave.

Ryuuji waved Ami goodbye and headed off to try and find Kitamura, he walked to the council room where all the members of the council would be and discuss and do all the school related things that they had to do. Takasu knocked on the door to find it empty, not a single person in sight, which was weird as right before class after lunch the council members always hang out there doing student council chores and all that.

Confused, Ryuuji walked to teacher's office to ask what was up with that, because if anyone knew what was going on it was most likely going to be the teacher.

He knocked politely and opened the door

"Hello teacher, um can i ask where the student council went?" Ryuuji asked politely once again. The female teacher looked at him

"Oh hello Takasu, i'm sorry if you have some business with them but unexpectedly the president went home, so the rest of the council decided they would for the rest of the day" The teacher explained. that raised even more questions in his head, though no answers. Ryuuji was determined to find out what happened and why was she acting so weirdly, he had to because it wasn't just affecting just him anymore, it was affecting Kitamura now as well and he couldn't let that happen.

"I see, well that's unfortunate, i just wanted to talk to president about something, but it can wait" Ryuuji explained to the teacher, after that he thanked her for telling him that, and he went into class just to see that Kitamura's or rather Ami's normal seat was empty, he really went home after all.

Few Hours later.

Both Kawashima and Ryuuji were going home as their classes were over, they walked to their lockers to change their boots. "Hey Ryuuji, i hope you still didn't forgot about our promise, i'm hanging at your place tonight" Ami reminded Ryuuji of the promise he made her for forgiving him about being late to meet her in the morning. Ryuuji was actually glad that she wanted to hang out at his place, because finally he could ask her what she was up to and what did she said or did to Kitamura.

"I know, don't worry i didn't forgot" Ryuuji said as he changed his boots. Ami smiled as she was preparing a mean joke

"Atleast you didn't forgot that" Kawashima laughed a bit as Ryuuji rolled his eyes annoyed.

"Haha, very funny" Ryuuji sighed annoyed at the joke that was made at his expense.

They both changed their boots and begun walking towards Ryuuji's home, Kawashima decided she didn't wanted to go anywhere else or possibly slow herself down, she had to be on time or her whole plan would have to be thrown out of the window.

They chatted for a few minutes as time flew by, they once again talked on their way to Ryuuji's home about random things to pass that time.

They walked up to his home quite quickly, Kawashima kept checking the time on her phone on the way for some odd reason, it was 15:49 exactly.

Ryuuji didn't noticed that though, he only had in mind what would he ask her exactly, because he knew if he chose the wrong words she wouldn't budge about what's been really happening with her.

"Hey, Thanks for you know actually letting me stay over and all, it's really nice of you and i'm sorry in advance" Ami bowed her head down, Ryuuji was confused, what did she meant by that? Why was she sorry in advance? Did it had to do anything with how she acted weirdly before? So many questions though yet again no answers, but he was sure he would find them out very quickly

"No problem i suppose, anyways could you wait for a bit? I forgot to take out the trash today morning" Ryuuji asked as he got up and went to take care of the trash. Ami simply nodded that was okay.

Kawashima looked at her phone once again, it was 15:51. Everything was according to plan, though a small part of her started to doubt herself again

"Is this the right thing to do Ami? Look at yourself, how much pain and suffering you caused to Minorin, Yusaku, and soon enough Taiga and Ryuuji, You're better than this, you can still stop this madness please" Kawashima's good side begged her to stop in her head, maybe she wasn't that far gone, maybe just maybe she could make herself stop and that ridiculous plan of hers.

"Ami, don't listen to that. You sacrificed yourself for all of them countless times and what did it got you? Nothing, only pain in your heart, so c'mon stay how you were before and get him for yourself, it's only right after all" Her bad side shot back, then again that side was right as well, she did suffered because of others and she really needed Ryuuji in her life more than ever before, so it was the right thing to do right?

Ami was having a last chance regret about her decision, but ultimately she decided she had to go through with it, she went so far just to get his love it wouldn't be wasted because of last minute weakness, and with that the new Ami was completely gone, outcame the old manipulative and lying Ami who disregarded everyone as lower than her, well all but Ryuuji. He was her prince in the shinning armor who would right all the wrongs once he was hers, or so she thought. Either way it was showtime.

Speaking of which just as she finished thinking about him he walked back into the room.

Kawashima once again looked at her phone, it was 15:58, her plan was just about to go into effect. Just one more minute and it would all be over, finally he would be hers after setting this up for so long. Ami recieved a text message from an unknown number saying "we'll be there on time" Upon reading that message Kawashima had the most wicked of smiles she ever had.

Everything was going the right way so far, nothing could go wrong anymore.

Ryuuji sat next to Ami who was sitting at the small table in his living room.

"Hey Ka-I mean Ami, i wanted to ask you something... " Ryuuji looked away as he sort of felt ashamed for putting her on the spot like that, but he just had to ask her what was up. Ami turned to him with a face that wanted to hear what he had in mind, but in reality she was focusing on something entirely different.

"You've been acting strange ever since Taiga left, and i've been noticing that you're affecting others as well because of that, so what's up?" Ryuuji gulped as he asked her. He just had to find out for both his curiosity sakes and for Kitamura's sake too. Just as he finished his sentence Ami's phone ringed.

It was perfect timing, she thought.

"Here, let me show you..." Ami said as she tripped him and pushed him on herself, and before he could react Ami planted a kiss on his lips. He was so shocked that he didn't realized that happened and why did she did it.

When Ryuuji realized what happened he looked up to see Taiga standing in the kitchen with a look of an absolute horror on her face as her bag that included a bunch of chocolates that were for him because Valentine's day was coming up fell on the floor, shattering on impact.

"Bingo" Ami thought to herself.

**End of Chapter 6 - The Storm**

What's going to happen next? Is going Taiga's and Ryuuji's relationship end in shambles or will their love get persist after this? Well, you'll have to wait and see a bit to find out.

By that i mean that i decided i would take a break from the next chapter to focus on another story that i wanted to write, so for the weekend and maybe a few days after that i will focus solely on that, i apologize but i feel like i really need to write it because of what i've been feeling in the past few days, plus i want to branch out a bit more when it comes to my stories. It's definately going to be more dark than this story, as my life has been going down a dark rabbit hole, so i'd say it's only natural i would like to write something that would help me ventilate my real life issues, but i digress. Either way i can't really colaborate what story this is going to be based off of yet because i don't know myself yet, but if you're into dark vibe stories feel free to stick around my profile in the next couple of days. anyways here are the writer's notes as per usual

**3/12/19 19:37**

I am starting to write the chapter as of writing of this. I am determined to make this my Magnum Opus of a chapter. I'll try shooting for 5k+ words, wish me luck!

**4/12/19 20:21**

I'm not really able to write anything as of today because i'm hurting a lot physically, won't really go into details about that, sorry.

**5/12/19 19:12**

I am pumped to make something today, I'd say i'm about 40-50% done, i hope i'll finish it today.

**5/12/19 21:00**

I got really far today, I'd say i'm about 75% done so i'm definately finishing this up in an hour or two, though i'll post it tomorrow as i still don't have working wifi so far.

**6/12/19 22:05**

Finally after so many problems and people interupting me i'm finally free to finish it today (i got about 90% done yesterday and i thought it wouldn't be much of a problem if i took my time with it today, that proved to be a bad choice)


	7. Chapter 7 - Reality

**(Skip this if you don't care) **

Hello, Totenwelt here! So we are getting close to the end. I wonder how is it going to end up? Are they all going to live happily ever after or will that only be a beautiful dream?

Well, you all will see very soon, i'll try finishing the last chapter by friday hopefully as i finally decided i would write another story before wrapping this story up, this time though it's going to venture forth to the depressing and dangerous reality of Metro universe, so if you're fan of that or you enjoy stories with that sort of theme feel free to hit me up as a favourite writer or just simply check out my stories in like a few days. I might extend this story to a one more chapter to make the ending a bit more rewarding (though no promises)

Anyways, would you all like an afterstory to this fanfiction? I'll leave a poll down here where you can choose whatever option you want (It's going to nullify in a month from me writing this, so i'm sorry viewers who might be watching this after that time)

You can vote anonymously to tell me if i should continue writing this story or not, anyways here's the link, . ?p=5dee3980e4b033f78237110e

i'll also leave it at the last chapter when i make it.

Btw, i'll be taking suggestions as to what i should write next, so if you want your favourite anime, and or game/book to be covered by me feel free to leave it on a review, or in pm's. i'll take in consideration when choosing what to write next, so please do write what you would like.

Anyways, apologies for the length of this chapter, i tried to making it longer, but i decided it would destroy the pacing quite a bit if i did that. But still i hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

But as usual, here are the **shoutouts:**

I'm sure you all heard this countless times from me already, but thanks a lot for reading this, every single view on this story makes my day better. So once again Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

**Special Shoutouts:**

Dreamer15147 Sorry that i cut it off like that, i just felt it would add more tension leading into this chapter. Also thanks so bloody much for still leaving reviews on every new chapter, it makes me really happy to see that someone likes my works that much. But yeah, it is what can one do? All i have left is trying to survive and write these stories for you all.

**(The story continues here)**

Taiga smiled from ear to ear as she arrived at Ryuuji's house in her mother's car, finally after 3 days she would see her boyfriend again! Taiga was ecstatic the whole trip from her mom's place all the way here. The girl bought her boyfriend a ton of chocolates because Valentine's day was coming up, and what sort of a good girlfriend would she be if she didn't gave her wonderful boyfriend some chocolates? Honestly everything about that relationship was just magical to her, she knew him for a year and yet she only noticed her feelings to him about half way, how nice was he towards her, and just how well he treated her specifically despite her always screaming and insulting him, she finally thought she found the true love.

The small girl got out of the giant car in comparison to her body, still smiling from ear to ear with a bag in her hand.

"Thanks for driving me out here mom, and for giving me tips about love and all that" Taiga thanked her mother as she turned her gaze away for a second as a blush formed on her face because she was embarrassed she had to ask her mother about love and about what she should do.

"Don't worry about it my little Taiga, though if something doesn't work out i'm always here for you okay?" Taiga's mother said rather stoicly, something was a bit off with her mother, especially with her being on a phone texting someone whenever she could, and when asked about that she would always reply "Some business deal"

Though Taiga payed no mind to it, as it was a great day for her.

Aisaka simply nodded back with a smile

"I know. i'll see you later mom, love you" Taiga waved her mother goodbye still with a giant smile on her face.

Her mom nodded back.

"See you later honey, love you too" Her mother waved her daughter back as she drove away leaving Taiga alone once again.

Taiga wasted no time and started walking up the stairs leading to Ryuuji's home. One of the things her mother adviced was giving him a surprise visit, thankfully she still had a key on her to his apartment that he gave her when she started coming over way back when they were just friends and didn't even felt anything towards each other.

Though it was a bit strange that she never got any texts back from him, and he would never pick up her calls

"maybe he lost his phone or something" Taiga thought in her head trying not to fall into the inescapable rabbit hole of doubt, nothing could make her day bad, she would make sure of that.

Taiga kept climbing up the stairs as she reached his door. Sneakily she slid the key into the keyhole, trying not to make a sound as to give him even more of a surprise and maybe even scare him a little bit.

As Aisaka entered his apartment she heard Ryuuji's lovely voice talking to someone, though she couldn't recognize it at first, it was a female voice, it had calm and mature tone to it unlike Yasuko's cheery and sort of childish tone, so it couldn't be her, and she couldn't figure out who it was either, but she knew it was someone very familiar. She only had one choice, find out herself.

Taiga walked to the middle of a kitchen and looked in the direction of the living room, still with a cheery expression on her face and a bag of chocolates in her hand.

However that expression very quickly changed as she saw her boyfriend lying on top of her friend and a foe Ami Kawashima and kissing her. It was a pure horror scene in her eyes.

How could he? Wasn't she enough for him? Were those 3 days of separation just too much for him? Or was he lying about loving her the whole time?

So many questions yet no answers.

Taiga's face very shortly distorted to a one of pure dread and sadness as tears formed in her eyes. Aisaka couldn't take it anymore mentally, she ran out of Ryuuji's apartment dropping the bag with the chocolates in the process, thus letting them shatter on the kitchen floor.

Stunned as to what happened Ryuuji reached out his hand and tried to ran after Taiga but someone was holding him down, he looked down to see that it was the mastermind of all this thing, Kawashima. Ryuuji still didn't understood what happened and why. Why did she kissed him? And why was Taiga there at that time?

Takasu got her body off of his and begun running to Taiga's apartment, he only had one instinct that told him what to do and that was going after her, though just as he exited his apartment he realized that it was futile, as she already ran away from his line of sight.

Though despite this the delinquent looking boy continued to try and explain things out to Taiga.

He walked down the stairs with somber and dread filling his mind as he begun realizing and piecing together what happened and how did she had to feel seeing her boyfriend lay on top of another girl and it seeming like he was kissing her, those feelings kept pushing him to try to explain things to her.

Ryuuji in the matter of seconds made it to her apartment and to the door that lead to her flat.

Takasu knocked on it as hard as he could.

"Taiga, please open up!" he begged her to open up, he knew if he could get her to open the door he would explain everything to her and it all would be okay again.

Yet only silence greeted him, the door kept shut as a door to a vault.

Ryuuji knocked even harder, bruising his hand in the process and making a slight dent into the door.

"Please, Taiga it's not what it seems, she tripped me and made it seem like i was kissing her, when in reality she forced herself onto me without consent" The boy tried to explain the situation as he rested his head on her door and just cried his heart out.

Yet she didn't replied a word or even a sign that she was okay.

Ryuuji kept bashing at her door with desperation as his bashes got slower and less impactful by each strike. Bashing at her door worned him out so much only think he eventually stopped knocking completely.

Ryuuji turned around and sat by her door in defeat as he though about all the time he betrayed her.

Flashbacks of his past mistakes filled his mind, he left her all alone a lot of times but eventually he was able to help her and made up for leaving her alone, though this time that wasn't the case. The realization make Ryuuji cry even more.

It was most likely the last time he ever met her let alone talked to her as a lover and overall. He screwed up big time and there was no way he could reverse that.

Taiga lied on her massive bed bawling her eyes over what happened. She felt betrayed, sad, heartbroken and most importantly not good enough, that was her reasoning as to why he cheated on her. She just wasn't enough for him, she never was, she was extremely short, flat and most importantly childish and mean, how could anyone seriously love someone like that? She thought.

Just as Taiga kept weeping she overheard someone knocking, it was Ryuuji for sure and she really wanted to open the door and accept his apology and act like nothing happened because she still loved him more than anything but she just couldn't, she knew that he loved Ami and that he would dump her one way or the other and she didn't wanted to be lied to, or so she thought.

Aisaka kept listening to hear what he had to say if anything, she heard him beg her to open the door and something else but she couldn't make out what he was saying as he was muffled because he started sobbing and crying.

Hearing that made her cry even more than she was before.

They both continued to cry few meters next from each other but it felt like they were worlds apart for a while, until Ryuuji decided to get up from his spot and confront the one who was behind it all to make things right, he had to, he didn't knew what he would do without Taiga by his side, so he marched on with tears in his eyes and snot clogging up his nose determined to find out why did Ami Kawashima did the things she did.

No longer caring about the consequences Ryuuji opened his door aggressively with such a force that he almost ripped them off completely.

Was that the reason why her demeanor was so weird the whole time Taiga was missing? Did she planned this all along or did she just happened to use the moment? Those and so many questions filled his mind besides the mindless rage and that stemmed from her actions, though the answer to that didn't really mattered to him, all he wanted to know why did she do it? What lead her to frame him to make it look like he was cheating on her girlfriend?

Well, there was only way to find out.

As Takasu made his way into the kitchen where the crumbled bag filled with now shattered chocolates lied, just a simple look on them sent Ryuuji into even greater rage and sadness than ever before, as those chocolates symbolized that she wanted to give him these chocolates as a gift since tomorrow was Valentine's day.

Ryuuji looked in the living as Taiga did a few minutes ago, there she was. The mastermind of that wicked plan herself Ami, she looked away in shame and embarrassment as her eyes met with Ryuuji's eyes that were burning with rage, making them even more scarier than usual. Takasu looked as if he wanted to kill someone, and if he didn't controlled himself he would have.

On second though Kawashima had a really horrible feeling about her plan right before commencing it, she tried to reason with herself to stop it, but it was simply too late. Kawashima could only try and clench to his body to try to make him stay as the deed was done, she thought that her actions were just and that Taiga's were wrong, that she could help him and not make him feel any pain, so she tried to make Taiga break up with him, but as she looked up and saw the desperation and utter shock and confusion in Ryuuji's face as he tried to reach out to her girlfriend Ami realized that she was wrong, she knew that her actions were wrong yet she simply blinded herself to that fact because she justified it with love and that everything is fair in pursuit of it. Everyone around her told her that it was wrong, yet she didn't listened, she turned to the Ami of old.

The Ami that hurt and used other people just for her benefit, how could she? She destroyed everything that she built in the span of 3 days.

Before she could think about her actions anymore Ryuuji tore her off of him and started running towards the hurt Taiga with tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

The fall hurt like a hell because he threw her on the table next to them, yet what hurt her the most wasn't the places where she landed the hardest, it was her broken heart that she shattered herself.

Ami lied motionless for a good few seconds reminiscing on how great everything was before she went ahead with the plan, she was very friendly with him and it was apparent that he enjoyed her company. Kawashima had the blast of her life being near a person that truly got her, yet she had to go ahead and be greedy. If she hadn't been so greedy and just accepted that she couldn't date him no matter what everything would be fine, but she let her dark side dictate her life again.

Her delusions haunted her once more.

Kawashima placed her knees to her chin and placed her head into the space between her knees as her tears hit her bottom body, she just couldn't take it anymore so she just wept over how stupid she was, Taiga wasn't the one who would hurt him eventually, it was her all along.

That kept on going for a few minutes as she drowned in her sorrows with tears that just wouldn't stop flowing out of her eyes, truly she was a monster in her and everybody else's heads and there was nothing she could do about it, she only hoped that Ryuuji was able to talk to Taiga properly and explained the situation, she wouldn't mind taking the bullet, it was her and only her fault afterall.

After a while she heard someone open the door very aggressively so much so that the door almost got ripped away completely.

Kawashima knew exactly who it was and that person had a bone to pick with her for her actions.

Enraged Ryuuji Takasu appeared from behind a corner of the door leading to kitchen like a ghoul with such a fire in his eyes that it genuinely seemed like he wanted to murder her on the spot for what she done to him and his lover.

At first Ryuuji didn't noticed her, but in a matter of a few milliseconds he traced over to her position where she was sitting up, no longer folded in a ball because she didn't wanted to show him her weak side.

Ryuuji walked up to her with the most pissed off face he ever had, still enraged as ever.

Kawashima kept looking away because she was just that ashamed that she couldn't look Ryuuji into his eyes.

"Why?" Ryuuji asked silently at first as tears once again started to appear in the corner of his eyes. Kawashima kept looking away and didn't gave him an answer

"Why did you do it?" Ryuuji uncharacteristically raised his voice on Ami who yet again didn't responded and just kept looking away to not meet his threatening and rageful glare.

Takasu had enough, he grabbed Ami's shoulder forcefully, forcing her to finally turn her gaze to him. Ami didn't had a expression of smugness which surprised him a bit as he expected her to bask in the fact that she destroyed his and Taiga's relationship, yet only a face full of regret and sadness met his gaze.

Takasu realized that he went over the board with the anger, he was losing the track of himself, the last thing he truly had left.

"Why did you do it?" Takasu once again repeated more calmly, looking straight into her eyes. Ami gazed back as tears filled her eyes uncontrollably

"I-I don't know anymore" Ami whispered silently as she put Ryuuji's hands off of hers shoulders and tried to hide her face from his eyes as she didn't wanted to let him see her crying, but her hands were caught by Ryuuji's.

"Don't give me that, i know there had to be a reason, i know you didn't do it just because you wanted to spite me and Taiga" Ryuuji pressured Kawashima who calmed down with the crying after he held her hands together, though she knew that he didn't hold her hands in a friendly way, yet despite everything it made her a bit happy.

Kawashima kept looking him in the eyes with a sad expression and told him exactly how it was.

"I-I just wanted to be with you, and i though i was doing the right thing since i believed Taiga was going to hurt you, but i didn't seem to understand that i was going to hurt you even more than she ever could" Kawashima confessed as she looked away in both embarrassment and shame once again.

Hearing those words was completely unreal to Ryuuji, he didn't understood the meaning of those words, or rather he did he just didn't wanted to believe them, that his good friend did that heinous act all in the name of love.

"What do you mean?" Takasu asked the blue haired model who was still looking away to hear it from her own mouth.

Kawashima closed her eyes, still looking away from him

"I did it because i love you okay?!" Kawashima lashed out on Ryuuji as she looked him in the eyes with a mix of sadness and anger in her voice and expression. Her eyes once again got filled with tears that just wouldn't stop flowing.

Ryuuji stood there dumbfounded, did she really planned all of this just to make him love her? Though before he could try and explain it more clearly to himself Ami cut him off by continuing.

"And i just, was blinded by it, so i did what i did" she continued to explain as she tried to wipe away her tears.

Ryuuji finally understood what she meant by her words and why she did the things she did.

Kawashima tried to make them break up so she could date him, because she was in love with him the whole time.

"I see. Though tell me, did you planned this through?" Ryuuji looked at her once again, this time with a sinister look that looked really emotionless.

Ami was shocked to see that side of him, she thought he would atleast say something to her about the fact that she had feelings for him, but he just skipped over it, as if she didn't said it at all.

"I did..." Kawashima once again confessed to her crimes. That made Ryuuji's look on his face even more sinister, she felt his gaze just piercing her with shame and hatred.

"I planned out everything out, I made sure Taiga's mother would be with her for 3 days as i reached out to her and got an agreement with her because of my contacts as a model. If i made you and Taiga break up she would take her back to her home so noone else would be around to take you so i would start eventually dating you once you got over the break up, that was the plan atleast. That included her mother changing her sim card so you couldn't reach her and changing the numbers of the contacts in her phone when Taiga wasn't looking so she couldn't text or call you and the rest.

Of course originally i was just going to try and win you over, but i saw just much you loved Taiga, so it wasn't possible that way, so i thought i had to be more aggressive about it, i'm sorry" Kawashima looked away as she explained her actions once more to Ryuuji who didn't moved an inch and neither did he changed expressions, he just stood there unwavered. God knows what was going on through his mind

"And what about Kitamura and Kushieda?" Ryuuji asked once again with a very unfriendly tone as he still had that unwavering, sinister look on his face. He knew that her actions lead to Kitamura and Kushieda breaking down mentally, and he wanted to know why that was and what happened.

"I-I..." that question caught Kawashima completely off guard as she didn't expected to be asked that question out of the blue.

But then she recomposed herself

"They both came up to me and tried to steer me away from doing what i did, and when i told them that it wasn't no longer possible it made them break down, not to mention i told them that it was futile to even try and resist to my plan as i had everything planned out" Kawashima explained as she finally looked at his eyes again to see what he had to say about that, she was okay with being casted by and hated till the end of times, everything was her fault afterall.

Ryuuji's expression finally turned some what softer as he prepared to tell her his opinion on the matter, though he still had a very unfriendly expression on his face

"You know what i realized after hanging out with you for so long? That if you told me how you felt and i was single i would return the feelings any day of the week. But because of how you acted you shown me that you haven't changed a bit since the old Ami that i knew, so now i can't say i'm feeling anything for you other than disgust for what you done. I'm sorry but i can't forgive you for what you done, so please get out of here" Ryuuji gave her a cold shoulder as he pointed to the exit. Kawashima tried to protest, but she knew it was pointless, plus she deserved it, it was all her fault, though she hoped if anyone would be able to forgive her it would be Ryuuji but she was wrong.

It was ironic, if only she told him how she felt about him before the mountain trip he could have been his and everything and everyone would be okay, but she had to go ahead and ruin it all by doing that stupid plan.

Ami simply nodded and walked out of his house with tears still filling her eyes.

Ryuuji shut the doors behind her, he simply sat down by the door as he sat by Taiga's door a few minutes before and just sat there emotionless, he didn't knew what to do anymore.

He lost everything, his lover, his friends.

And he was devastated because of it.

Takasu sat there for ages, not even thinking anything, as if he was in a coma. It turned to midnight and his mother walked in, drunk as usual.

She opened the door leading to her home only to see Ryuuji sitting by it like he was dead, though he visibly wasn't as she was still blinking, though still Yasuho got really scared for a second when she saw him sitting like that

"Ryuuji? Are you okay what happened?" Yasuho asked, but she knew exactly what happened, he broke up with Taiga, or the other way around. She knew because she was the same way when she broke up with her previous boyfriends before she met his dad.

Ryuuji didn't responded and just kept being silent.

"It's okay baby, i know what happened, let's get you to bed okay?" Yasuho said as she comforted him with a hug. Her motherly instincts overpowered her drunkenness, so much so that she completely forgot she was even drunk in the first place.

Ryuuji still didn't replied, but he began crying uncontrollably as he hugged his mother back, after a while of crying in her embrace like he did when he was a child he fell asleep like a baby.

Yasuho helped him get to his bed, despite her stature she was very strong. And prepared him his futon and put him to bed. She knew she couldn't help him any further, she just had to hope everything would work out fine.

Though what she could do was talk to Taiga about what happened.

End of Chapter 7 - Reality

**Writer's notes**

7/12/19 17:21

As of right now i'm starting to write this chapter, should be done in like a day or two hopefully

8/12/19 21:26

Almost finished this chapter today, i just sat down and wrote for like a good 4 hours so i'm just going to post this once i'm free tomorrow

9/12/19 12:58

Alright, got everything done i'm about to upload it.


	8. Chapter 8 - The End?

It's the last chapter, so i'd be glad if you could read this

Hello Totenwelt here! And finally after almost a month we're at the end of the line! or is it? Well, as far as this story goes yes. But don't be sad yet, as i do plan to make a continuation of this story eventually (don't know when that'll be though, i'd say like a month or two from now as i have quite the few projects i want to cover before jumping a ship on the afterstory.) before i do though, i'm announcing i'll be doing a remaster of this overall story, because there are parts (especially in the earlier chapters) where i straight up didn't liked how it turned out, but i thought it's good enough and left it be, well no more! i'll do another draft to really make it shine before i'll be doing any afterstory of sorts. Now, when will the remaster will be done? Well i'd say like a month from now as again i got like 2 more stories i want to cover before i'll return to Toradora as writing a fanfiction that long completly zapped all enjoyment i had about that anime, so it'll take me a few before i get the feel for it again, but when i do the first thing i'll do will be write another chapter for it. Also, i really apologize for taking a week to finish but i was writing my novels and a metro related fanfiction together with this chapter so that's why it took me so long, but atleast i hope it's worth the wait since it's about 2 times as long as most of my chapters.

Also, i'll be writing a "Inner workings" chapter right after this to go into all things around this story, why i did some things, etc. So if you're interested in that then check it out.

I apologize for messing up the poll last chapter, but i got a few pms saying i should write an afterstory, so i will.

But anyways, thank you all so much for reading my story all the way through. and to those who didn't, i still thank you for atleast taking the time out of your day to check out a part of it if nothing else.

**But as for the usual, here are the shoutouts**.

Shoutout mainly to the person reading this, you're epic and you deserve a choccy milk.

**And as for the special shoutouts:**

**Dreamer15147** Well, i tried my hardest for it to be heartbreaking, so i'm glad that it worked exactly as i wanted :) Anyways, as for the rest you'll see yourself. But anyhow thank you once again for reviewing all my chapters, feedback and support like that helped me out to power through and finish the chapter many times, so again thank you and i hope you have a good day!

Anyways, i hope you'll enjoy the last chapter

**Here the story ends, though i hope you didn't skipped what i had to say.**

It was very dark outside, so much so that even the stars were visible to the naked eye. Truly it was a beautiful night, atleast to the normal folks, as for the bunch that we all know, it was a bleak, sad night for everyone.

Noone was celebrating, not even the person who caused everyone to be this sad, instead that person was sitting on a sidewalk infront of her crush's house bawling her eyes out on how much destruction she caused and that she lost any and all chances to be around her crush let alone date him.

Someone noticed her crying on the sidewalk from her crush's home, it was none other than the mother of the boy she loved, Yasuho Takasu who've she never met before, but heard a lot about from her son.

Normally she'd run away so that noone would see her crying, but this time she didn't cared one bit. She deserved to be looked upon when crying, so people would laugh at her and look down on her, after all it was only fair after what she done, she thought.

Yasuho noticed her immediately, She walked down the stairs to comfort her, since she could tell that she was coming to the same highschool as Taiga and Ryuuji and looked from the profile as one of his friends who Ryuuji mentioned from time to time.

"Hey, what's up? You're Ryuuji's classmate aren't you? What are you doing up here so late?" Yasuho asked Ami who was still facing nothingness and crying. Yasuho didn't knew what happened but thought that it would be for the best appropriate to comfort her, so she put her hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Are you okay?" Yasuho once again asked her, now crouching near her.

This time, Ami stopped crying for a second and wiped her runny nose.

"I-It's all my fault, I screwed up everything, i lost sight of myself and it caused everyone to just break down, and now that i finally realized it it's too late to fix it" Ami confessed to Yasuho, at that point it didn't mattered who was listening, as she betrayed everyone who took her as a friend so to who else could she confess to? After finishing the sentence she started crying again.

Upon hearing what she just said Yasuho just stood there completely frozen. So she was the cause of all this? She made Ryuuji and Taiga break up? How could she? That wench! So many rageful comments about Ami came through her mind, she was as angry if not more than Ryuuji was when he was pissed off at her, though atleast Ryuuji knew when to stop, she had a motherly rage that couldn't be stopped in a logical way.

Yasuho's hands started to twitch as she though of what she would do to her and what insults would she do, so much so that she squeezed Ami's shoulder so hard she started to grab it because it hurt her so much.

"Hey, what the hell? " Ami shouted through the tears whilst she looked at Yasuho confused as to why was she squeezing her shoulder so tightly. Only thing she saw those burning eyes that Ryuuji had some time ago, but that look was a bit different from what he had back then, that look had some regret in them, but hers did not.

Before she could say anything further or react a giant slap landed across her face from the furious Yasuho.

It resonated within Ami so much that she was almost knocked out by it, she immediately held her hands on the spot where Yasuho hit her. It stung so much, the pain was unbearable like if half of her face was melting, it hurt her that much.

Kawashima quickly got up and was about to scream at her with rage for hitting, but then she dropped her head as she was reminded to what she did few hours ago.

Yasuho began crying as well as she looked at Ami with a expression that signaled both hatred and sadness towards the blue haired model.

"Why did you do it?! Was destroying their relationship so important to you?!" Yasuho shouted at her, causing her to look away once again in shame, shame for what she caused and done to everyone, but then she looked back at her with a expression that no longer spelled out defeat.

They're all going to hate her? Fine, but she wouldn't shed no more tears for either herself or him. She had enough, Ami would go on her own way now, she would walk the same lonely she did before joining that highschool and meeting Ryuuji and Taiga. She had to, for all of them, and to pay for her wrong doings.

"I did it because i loved him, i wanted him for myself and honestly i wish i didn't done it, but i can't do anything about it now so i have to live with that for the rest of my life" Ami explained calmly to Yasuho in a very stoic tone who's demeanor turned from rage to pure sadness as tears overpowered any thoughts in her head.

Yasuho tried to say something, but couldn't she only stood there in front of Ami and kept on crying.

Seeing that Kawashima turned around and started walking home, there was no point in her being there anymore. Though she stopped for a second before going

"Also, thanks for that, i really deserved it" Ami said stoicly as she turned her head so Yasuho could see it and pointed to her crimson cheek before disappearing to the dark shadows of midnight streets.

Seeing that Yasuho dropped down on her knees and kept on crying for minutes, Taiga saw that from her window and wanted desperately to run out and hug, she was practically her own mother at that point, but she couldn't, not after what happened that day.

Finally Yasuho recomposed herself after a while because she still needed to visit Taiga and ask about what happened and possibly try to fix everything up.

Yasuho but surely made her way towards Taiga's apartment and towards her door.

She knocked on it and tried to open it, only to find it locked

"Taiga, Honey what happened? Did you two got into a fight?" Yasuho asked, yet no response was heard back.

She was determined to make their relationship work again, after what that blue haired wench did.

"I heard from Ryuuji you two got into a fight, and i found out it was all that blue haired girls fault, i want to talk it out with you, i don't want you and Ryuuji to stop seeing each other, afterall you're part of our family" Yasuho kept on pleading with Taiga, who still didn't responded to her pleads.

Desperate and with tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes she tried one more time to get her to atleast reply to her.

"Please Taiga i beg you, let me help" Yasuho begged her for a reply, yet noone replied her.

Yasuho got up and began crying because she couldn't save their relationship after all. Not only did she lost a part of her family that day, but she also failed as a mother. In defeated she walked away knowing she couldn't do anything anymore.

On the other side sat Taiga with tears flowing freely from her eyes as she sat in the same chair she sat last Christmas. Hell, she was even wearing the same scarf she was wearing that day, Ryuuji's scarf brought her so many memories to better times, when they were both nice to each other, when he pretended to be Santa only for her.

He did so many nice things for her, yet she felt betrayed and hurt, and most importantly not worthy of his love. Was Yasuho speaking the truth?

It didn't really matter anymore, because Taiga decided even if she was right that he would be more happier with that dumb chivavua than with her. Like who would want to date such a small and flat girl for the rest of their life? Her insecurities got to her hard, beating away at her core.

Just as she uttered that in her mind she began crying even more, because in her head it meant that he didn't loved her anymore.

And why should he? She didn't even replied to him when he was beating at her door and begging for her to open or atleast talk to her.

It was all her fault again, if she stayed with him maybe he would still be with her, but that's just another "what if" scenario.

Taiga got up from her chair, she was shaking like crazy from the stress and wobbled to a large mirror, or atleast a large compared to her body, the mirror itself wasn't that big. And took a look at herself to decide what to do next.

And there she was, a petite small girl was looking back at her with tears still flowing out of her eyes, and was twitching and shaking like crazy.

Now, she had two choices she could do try and confront Ryuuji about it and try to smooth things out, or give up and run away so that he could be happier with this dumb chivavua.

At first it was a clear choice, tomorrow she would go to his house before school and talk to him about it, but as more as she thought about the more it became too hard for her to do. So slowly but surely she started to lean towards the other choice, run away for his sake.

Afterall, he loved that dumb chivavua didn't he? She would only be in his way and make things inconvenient if she stuck around, so with hesitation she finally chose the way she would handle it.

Taiga walked to her giant king bed and lied on it, no more thoughts cruised through her mind, she just lied there without any emotion or like a doll only having tears in her eyes, eventually though she cried herself to sleep.

Ryuuji slowly but surely woke up to the sound of an alarm. He didn't wanted to get up though, because his life sort of just lost all meaning now that he got into a fight with his girlfriend, hell she meant even more than that to him. She was his soulmate, someone who truly understood him. But now she was gone, so close to him, yet so far away.

Takasu had to turn off the alarm though because it was getting annoying. Ryuuji slowly made it onto his feet as he managed to wobble his way to the alarm clock to turn it off, as he did he wiped away his dried up tears that were there from yesterdays event. As he got a flashback to reminded himself what happened even more tears started to streak out of his eyes and down his chin.

It was all his fault he thought, if only he was a bit more cold towards Ami it wouldn't happen and both him and Taiga would be forever happy with each other. Though that was impossible now, nothing could fix what's been broken that much, and he knew that deep down she didn't wanted to fix it either. Truly after a year or knowing each other their relationship and friendship in general disintegrated in a mere one night.

Ryuuji tried to go back to sleep as he didn't cared about coming late to school and overall didn't cared about much if anything anymore. What was the point if she wasn't around?

But unfortunately for him he couldn't fall asleep anymore, he only lied in his futon and tried to not think about what happened few hours ago. But that was harder than he though, everything lead to her. She was his world and everything in his life lead to her one way or the other.

Takasu couldn't take it anymore and got up from his futon to get his mind occupied to forget about what happened if only for a while.

Ryuuji looked like hammered piece of crap. His eyes were extremely red because he was crying a lot in the last couple days, his posture was bad because he was hunched over and he stenched of sweat because he didn't shower yesterday because of what happened. Ryuuji was more of a car wreck than what he looked few days ago when he was missing Taiga, this time it was definite though.

Takasu looked at the alarm clock who at that point stopped ringing to see the time. It was 7:42 exactly, maybe if he skipped breakfast he would make it he thought, though it didn't mattered to him that much if he wouldn't make it on time.

Ryuuji put on his school uniform slowly, took his bag and sadly walked to the school with only depressive thoughts filling his mind.

Everyone was already in class preparing for it to start, well everyone but Ryuuji who just made it to the school just in time, he was changing his normal boots to the school boots as someone saw him who was in the same mood as he was, Minorin Kushieda.

She stood shocked to see him so down, it finally had to happen, and even though she prepared herself to handle her emotions when it did, she couldn't help but start crying like so many times again, but this time it was the worst. All she did really was in vain, and it was all her fault. Before he could notice her she ran away from school that day with tears flowing freely from her eyes.

Ryuuji looked at his phone, it was 8:05, he was late to the class he thought as he stood infront of the doors leading to the said class. He opened it and bowed down.

"I apologize teacher for arriving late, i overslept" Ryuuji sincerely apologized as he kept his head bowed. He tried his best not to sound sad or depressed, but it sounded more like he just didn't cared and was sarcastic about it.

"It's alright Takasu, please take a seat" The teacher nodded as she pointed to his seat. Ryuuji nodded back and walked over to his seat and sat down, everyone took a look at him as he did because they all could tell something wasn't right with him despite him trying to act like he was okay, though they didn't wanted to ask him as it seemed like he wasn't in a mood to talk, plus it would be pretty disrespectful.

Takasu sat down and slouched on the table looking as miserable as he could. It was apparent that he didn't wanted to be there, but even more so as he just lied on his desk with his face lying on his forearms.

"So, now that Takasu is here only one's who are missing are Kushieda and President Kitamura correct?" The teacher asked the students, who nodded and all said yes in a unisense. Ryuuji wondered why wasn't Kushieda and Kitamura at school, but didn't really cared enough to try and find out why they were missing, maybe he'd ask later when they were in school.

Kawashima was sitting in the back being as miserable as Ryuuji. Her face was slightly bandaged at the spot where she got slapped by Yasuho, she bruiser her so much that she had to get it bandaged. After that incident she completely isolated herself from everyone, not even talking to her two female friends. And despite moving on with her life she still was hurting when she saw Takasu being so depressed, plus it was all her fault that it happened which made it all the worse.

What was said next noone expected.

"I'm afraid i have start off today with a sad note. I just got the news that due to personal issues, Taiga is going to be leaving our school" Teacher said as she stood infront of the chalk board.

Kawashima's eyes widened as she sat there in shock. Why did she do that? What came across her mind? Why did she had to act like a little child? So many emotions came across her at that time, it hit her more than when Ryuuji threw her out of his apartment.

She wished that Taiga was here so she could slap her for leaving, then again she didn't had the right to judge her, after what she done after all.

Ryuuji bolted up as fast as his body allowed it, knocking his chair in the process.

"Wait, what? how? I-uh" Ryuuji tried to say something, but was met with nothing as his brain just shutted down. Was it really happening? It couldn't right? It was just a bad dream, or nightmare it couldn't be real could it?

He slowly but surely sat down as the crushing reality of the situation hit him like tsunami.

The whole class stayed silent, for both they all were shocked as much as Ryuuji was and because they all felt sorry for him because they knew that he was dating her, though that didn't stopped them from texting her about it, though little do they knew none of the texts would ever reach her.

"I'm afraid i can't give more information about the situation as Aisaka's mom requested for me to do so." The teacher looked down in shame and sadness, for losing a member of her class felt heavy on her because she was a good student.

Ryuuji began crying as it slowly but surely as the seriousness of the situation dawned on him.

Kawashima on the other hand just sat there still completely shocked, with so many questions on her mind, yet no answers.

Ami couldn't bear seeing her love being so sad anymore, and she couldn't go ahead and help him. Not to mention she didn't wanted to ruin lifes of others anymore, as long as she was there nothing would change. So she had no other choice but to do the same cowardly thing Aisaka did. Leave the school.

Few hours later.

Kawashima walked to the teacher's office who was sitting in there filling papers about Aisaka's transfer to another school. She knocked politely on her door

"Come in!" Teacher invited Ami inside as she looked towards the doors, when she walked in her office she bowed her head down to show respect.

"Thank you teacher, um i have something i wanted to talk to you about" Ami looked down, her inner self once again doubted her decision, but this time she was right it was the right choice, atleast for everyone around her. This time she didn't cared about herself, Ryuuji needed people to help him get through his demons and as long as she was there others wouldn't be, so she had to sacrifice herself for his sake atleast once.

"Sure Kawashima, what's up? " The teacher asked her as she raised her eyebrow a bit about what she wanted to possibly talk about.

Kawashima closed her eyes and looked straight at the teacher, she was confident about her choice now.

"I wanted to transfer, for personal reasons. You see something happened to me and now well, it's awkward for me to stay here and i know it won't get any better so i want to change schools. Plus i plan to make my comeback to modeling and i can't study at school and be a professional model at the same time." Kawashima forced herself to say all of that, she immediately looked away as she got sad that everything that she made up until that point would be lost, but that sadness was somewhat relieved by the fact that everyone would be better off without her now.

The teacher stood there completely shocked and dazed, not one but two top class students left her classes in the same week? How would she explain that to the principal? She had no idea.

"A-Are you sure you want to transfer? I mean you made many friends here you sure that they wouldn't miss you? Please, reconsider. It seems to me a very rushed decision that you might regret later on in life." Teacher tried her best not to sound desperate and instead caring, and it sort of came off as caring rather than desperate.

Ami smiled, closed her eyes and looked at her teacher

"Yes i'm sure, and no they wouldn't. But thank you for trying to change my mind, i wish it didn't had to come to this, but unfortunately it's the only thing good thing i can do now. Also, i'll have the transfer papers here tomorrow signed by my parents, anyways thank for teaching me so much it's truly been an honor as your student" Kawashima said as she shook her now ex-teacher's hand, who just nodded out of shock and just shook her hand back.

"Thank you for listening to my request, have a great life and goodbye!" Ami said as she faked being cheery and bowed down once again to show her thanks.

The teacher still nodded very dazed as to what just happened as her now ex-student walked from her office with a big (fake) smile on her face.

In reality though she still was so sad, because last year to her was the best year she ever had, up until that mountain trip. If only things were a bit different, everything wouldn't go completely awol. But only thing she could do now at that point was just man up and try to get over it, it would be hard but she had no other choice.

Ami walked down the stairs leading to the outside of the school, she expected atleast someone to wait for her or something like that, but she was all alone at the school, as if she was forgotten all about in the span of a few days.

Ami changed her boots and started walking home, so many thoughts filled her mind as she did. Was it a right choice? Did i made a mistake? Am i doing the right thing? So many questions were once again going through her head though once more, no answers. She would just have to believe in her choice that it was the right one.

After a little while she made it to her home, which was just like her at the time, Alone and forgotten.

Kawashima left her bag at her table and sat down on her chair in the kitchen to relax. Though once more she couldn't as more and more negative thoughts filled her mind, despite saying she would get past her feelings for Ryuuji and throw this whole chapter of her life behind her without any problem, she just couldn't do it. Ami once again began crying about what had transpired and what was about to happen.

It was so painful for her to even attempt to move on, let alone throw everything away in the sake of others.

Kawashima got up from her seat and walked to her mirror. There she saw a reflection of a weak person crying who she didn't recognized anymore. A person who let herself get lost in her own desires. A person she hated more than anymore, and most importantly a person she didn't wanted to be anymore.

Ami wiped her own tears as begun looking herself in a different light. She would have to change her ways if she wanted to ever move on.

She had to change somehow, she just had to, she didn't wanted to be like her again.

"Do you really though? Or can't you simply accept the fact that you're the same person who caused all of it?" a certain part of her though otherwise, truly it was the truth she didn't wanted to hear as she still didn't wanted to agnolige that it was her fault.

"Don't listen to that, you weren't in the wrong, you were simply weren't the same person as who did that thing back then" Another part of her argued with the other, it had to be right, wasn't it? Afterall, it couldn't be her fault.

"Ami, you really believe that? You got consumed by love and greediness, and The only reason why you still haven't moved on is because you can't handle the guilt. And maybe it's too late to be forgiven but atleast you can redeem youself and take that guilt away, please do the right thing atleast once for others and not yourself. " her inner part guided her towards what was right, though admitting the truth and committing to it would be way harder than living in the land of illusions and makebeliefs.

"C'mon, you shouldn't even think of helping them after how badly everyone treated you, even the person you love betrayed you, everyone did. You're the one and only Ami Kawashima and you shouldn't sacrifice yourself for the sake of others" her other inner part guided her towards what was wrong, but she didn't saw it as that, she saw it simply as the simpler and easier solution.

Ami Kawashima took another look at herself as she had to decide what sort of person would she become in the future. It was a hard choice for her, but she eventually came to an answer.

Kawashima once more looked at the mirror having one last look at herself, as she walked away to pack her stuff so she could move again.

It was Showtime.

Ryuuji lied on his bed emotionless and without care for anything anymore.

He tried to reach out to Taiga one more time, only to find out her apartment abandoned, all her furniture and the rest of her things gone. It was even more empty and sad than it was before. Ryuuji looked around the whole house to try and find if she left a note or something atleast before she abandoned that place. Fortunately for Ryuuji there was a note, on her giant king bed. Ryuuji quickly rushed over to it to see what she wrote. Takasu opened the folded note to read what was written on it.

The paper was mostly blank, only one sentence was written on it.

"I'm sorry for not being good enough" Those few words made Ryuuji drop to his knees, he once more began crying over the note as it made him realize just how much it hurt her. He also knew that those words weren't sarcastic but her true thoughts.

Eventually he got back to his home, but he wasn't himself anymore. He resembled more of a husk than a man who was above everything.

Ryuuji walked over to his bed and just lied there, not caring about anything anymore.

Truly he lost even the smallest slither of hope, and there was no way it could change anymore. She was gone, and with her he was too. What remained was a shelter of a man who didn't cared about anything anymore, Ryuuji Takasu was no more.

Truly this was the end of his story. There was no good ending like in those fairy tales.

Or so he thought.

Someone knocked on his door, it wasn't very loud but it was so silent that even he heard it clearly despite being so far away.

At first he didn't wanted to answer because he just didn't cared anymore, but the knock very suddenly stopped which made him somewhat interested as to who was behind the door.

He got slowly up his feet and very slowly and lazily walked over his apartment to the door. At first he looked through the peep hole to look at who was behind the door, yet noone was there.

The person who knocked on his door was already gone. Confused, he opened the door to see if it wasn't a postman or something, but why would they knock then? It all was a bit weird to him.

He looked down to see another note of sorts. He picked it up to see what was written on it.

The husk stood there as he read the note.

He was overwhelmed by what was on that note.

So much so that he ran out of his apartment with tears in the corner of his eyes.

Kawashima sat in a back of a car with a chauffeur driving it somewhere.

"We're here Miss Kawashima" The driver signaled to Ami, she nodded back and got out of the car

"I'm going to park the car around the corner Miss Kawashima" The driver said after rolling down his window.

Ami smiled and nodded once more

"Thank you, i'll be right back!" Kawashima exclaimed as she waved the driver off, he simply nodded back with a stone face and drove off.

Her smile quickly disappeared as so did the car.

Kawashima looked at her phone once more, though this time it wasn't used to plan a betrayal of someone.

Ami looked at it with a serious expression on her face as she placed it back in her pocket and started walking somewhere.

She once again thought if it was the right choice to do after all that happened. She knew that was she was about to do was selfish, but she had to, there was no other way.

Kawashima finally walked to her destination. It was finally about to happen, her drastic final decision.

The destination was a normal japanese suburban plaza that didn't looked any different from any other plaza in Tokyo. One would wonder why she chose that place in particular.

Ami sat down at a bench and just waited for something or rather someone. After a few minutes a familiar looking car appeared on the road next to the bench she was sitting at. The car had very tinted windows so she couldn't see who was in the car, but it was same on the other side. Of course, she knew exactly who was in that car, and she preparing herself to meet with that said person.

The car drove up to her and suddenly stopped. Ami turned her gaze from the backseat of the car to the front seat, she simply nodded with a serious look on her face.

After a few seconds the back door opposite of Kawashima opened, the person got out of the car and closed the door as the luxurious car drove away, revealing that the person in the backseat was none other than the palm top tiger, Taiga Aisaka.

As Aisaka turned around to see who was standing infront of her she froze with shock. Of all people who could have been she was the last person she wanted to see.

"W-w-why?" Taiga tried to get a cohesive sentence out of her mouth, but failed epically at that.

Ami simply smiled as she found that a bit amusing, and she couldn't help but let a small bit of her mean self shine a little.

"Why am i here you mean? Simple, i'm here to stop you from from making a giant mistake, or rather to fix a bad choice that i did" Ami explained as she looked straight on Taiga with a smile. She was smiling in the face of her own mistakes.

"No, this isn't right. He loves you more, and i had to leave because i couldn't handle that, plus i wanted him to be happy" Taiga looked down as started tearing up, she didn't hated Ami for what she done, she just wanted the best for Ryuuji, evecn if it meant sacrificing herself in order to make him happy. Aisaka loved him that much.

Ami heard enough, she was hurting as she was she wasn't in a mood to see Taiga hurting as well, she grabbed Taiga's shoulders causing her to look up right in her eyes

"Do you really believe that? This has been my doing all along, I made him trip so that it would look like he made a move on me before you came in. Same goes with the kiss" Kawashima explained as she looked intensively at Taiga, who stopped crying instead was just shocked on what she was hearing. She wanted to get angry at Ami, but she couldn't, she just still stood there completely shocked

"B-but how did you knew i was coming?" Aisaka asked still dazed from Kawashima's answers, she still had no idea how could she have planned it that well timing wise.

"Simply put, i collaborated with your mother on this, she was the one that i contacted when i decided to go through with that plan and fortunately for me she wanted you to go live with her, so we helped each other out" Ami said as it was, she didn't cared if she would be hated by Taiga, it didn't matter to her anymore, what did was two things. Convincing her to reconsider her choice to leave for his sake, and to buy time.

Taiga's pupils increased tenfold, not only did she just found out she got betrayed by own family once more. But she just found how much her friend was really wicked, how thoroughly she planned this all without even stopping once to question the morality of it.

Taiga slowly got more and more angry at Ami as her sadness began disappearing.

Kawashima saw that and looked around to see if he was around or not, because she felt that she couldn't hold the tiger down anymore.

And there he was, Ryuuji Takasu.

Running like he never ran before, as if he was running for his life, which he sort of did as he would be figuratively dead if he didn't.

Her wildcard has worked, the biggest possible risk of that whole plan of hers.

As Ami saw him running like that smiled to herself as it reminded her of why she fell in love with him, his determination and care was unmatched to others.

Ami once more turned to Taiga and released her shoulders

"Look, just wait here okay? My work here is done, but yours just began now. Goodbye Taiga, and thanks for listening to me" Kawashima said as she walked away from Taiga who wanted to reach to her and grab her or tell her something, but before she could do so she was already too far away, leaving her standing her confused as to what she meant by that.

One hour earlier.

Kawashima finally decided that she would do the right thing and save or rather repair what she broke, Takasu's and Aisaka's relationship.

But where should she start? She couldn't contact Taiga because her mother switched her sim card, and she had no way of contacting Ryuuji anymore as he began ignoring her text. Wait, that was it, maybe she could still get in contact with Taiga's mother.

Ami brought out here phone and scrolled through her contacts to locate Taiga's mother who she had named the "Devil" in her contact, which was fitting as what she did resembled more of a devil's work than human's. Plus her relentless, greediness and lack of care for other peoples feelings made her look very evil and almost devilish.

She pressed the call button on her 2008 phone and pressed it against her ear. The phone rang for a few seconds before reaching the other side.

"Hello Kawashima! What's the matter?" Aisaka's mother asked as she picked up the call. Her voice sounded so mature and kind yet she was the most childish and vile person Ami knew.

"Hello Mrs Aisaka... " Ami introduced herself kindly, though that angered Taiga's mother a bit

"I told you not to call me that Kawashima" Taiga's mother uttered sort of threateningly, ever since her divorce with Taiga's father she had problems with people referring to that name again, which reminded her non pleasant past with that man.

"I apologize, anyways i am calling because i sort need a favour from you" Ami said softly as she wanted to sound sincere and kind, but in reality she was getting sick from just hearing that vile woman's voice, if it wasn't for that favour she would never talk to her again.

"Oh, you should have said so from the start, what is it? I still owe you for helping me get my dear Taiga back home so i'll help out anyway i can" Taiga's mother gave in for once, which was uncharacteristic to her, but then again that was how Ami thought of her, she didn't knew her other than when she helped her in her evil endeavor, so maybe she wasn't all that bad, not that it mattered as she was about to screw her over, or atleast she was about to try.

"Well speaking of which, um say would it be okay if i got to meet with her one last time?" Kawashima asked once more with a soft and kind voice, hoping that her scheme would work out. A few seconds of silence passed from Taiga's mother's side, which made Ami a bit scared as to what she would reply.

"I mean, you sure you want to do that after all that happened?" She asked ami with a voice that sounded a bit concerned for her, which made Ami feel a bit bad about what was she about to do, but it had to be done.

"Yes, i want to talk to her because of what happened" Kawashima was honest this time, she wanted to right her mistakes this time. Sure it would be hard for her to

"I see, well you're in luck. We're somewhat close to her old place eating at an restaurant, if you want to meet up with her you should probably do it soon" Taiga's mother advised, Ami smiled as she got her in her web of illusions and intrics of her machinations. Truly it was what Kawashima was best at, manipulating others, atleast this time she was doing it for the good of someone rather good of herself.

"Thank you, say would it be okay to meet up somewhere in like a half an hour?" Ami once more asked kindly, bit she knew she was in control and there wasn't anything that she could do about it.

"Of course, where do you want to meet?" Taiga mother asked her back asking for the location, few seconds passed as Ami was typing something on her phone, it was a map application.

"Here's the place i'm close to, can you let us meet there?" Ami replied as she sent her the link to the place that she had in mind, it was close by to both herself and Ryuuji's place so he would make it there in a few minutes if he ran which she knew that he would.

"Okay, that isn't so far, well we'll see you in a half an hour then" Taiga's mother said as she ended the call.

Ami put away her now rather sweaty phone from calling with her for so long.

Ami deeply sighed, that was so exhausting for her to go through, but at last she had her wrapped around her finger.

But now came the harder part, she would have to get Ryuuji to come to the spot as well, she couldn't message him and she couldn't meet him head on as he still despised her for what happened, so she had to come with something else.

Then it hit her, maybe she left him a note he would see it.

Ami picked up a piece of paper she had on her table, and began writing something on that note with a pen. She picked up the said paper and put it in her coat pocket as she was still wearing her ex-school uniform.

After that she called her private driver from the time when she was doing modeling actively to pick her up. It took him quite long time as he was quite far away from her, but he got there eventually.

She greeted him, got in and asked if he could drive to Ryuuji's home before driving to the meeting spot and finally to her new home far from that place.

He nodded and started driving to Takasu's place.

Ami was at first very nervous that it wouldn't work after all that because he seemed like a wreck, would he even check that note? Well, she had no other choice but to believe in him.

The driver stopped infront of Ryuuji's home, Ami got out and started walking slowly up the stairs. Each step making her more and more anxious as she was getting closer to that apartment again, she remembered her horrible actions once more, but she had to push through to right those wrongs, so she did.

Kawashima was at the top of the stairs standing with the note now in hand, she looked at it one last time. There was written "If you want to be with Taiga again just go to this location, i'll handle the rest, please believe me on this - Kawashima" on it and underneath it there was a crudely drawn map of the part of the city they were in with a line drawn to the place where she was supposed to meet with Taiga.

She took a deep breath and pressed on to knock on Ryuuji's door. As soon as she did she left the note infront of the door and walked back to the car and drove off to the meeting place, but before she did she took a glance at his home to see him walk out of his home looking like a hammered piece of crap, but as soon as he was reading it his expression turned into shock and then to happiness as he began running for his life. Ami knew that he was going to come there no matter what happened, so with a smile on her face she sat in the back of the car as it drived to the spot where she and Taiga was supposed to meet, and well the rest is history.

Back in current time.

Taiga turned around to the noise of someone running towards her, it was none other than her boyfriend Ryuuji Takasu without breath from running for so long

Aisaka once more was so surprised to see him there, was that what she meant by her work just beginning?

She looked down not knowing how to react.

As Ryuuji caught his breath he began apologizing

"I-I'm sorry for everything Taiga" Ryuuji apologized from a bottom of his heart to Taiga who was still looking down.

Ryuuji stood there realizing that she might not ever forgive him for what he did. Taiga walked towards him, still with her face still facing down. Ryuuji braced for whatever she had in mind to do.

Instead of that though, she hugged him as tightly as she could.

Ryuuji once again looked down her face to see her meeting her gaze with her own with a face full of tears, but it weren't the sad tears anymore, they were the happy tears for finally, she was together with her chosen one again. And this time nothing would separate them.

"No i'm sorry" Taiga said as she brought her face closer to Ryuuji's who hugger her tightly back and brought his face closer to hers as well.

Both of their lips connected in a flurry of emotions. It was the sweetest kiss of their lifes, finally they were together at last despite everything that happened the past few days. if only that moment could last forever. They had to separate their lips because they both were kissing so passionately for so long that they both lost their breath.

As they separated from their kiss they look at each other with a expression that read pure joy despite the tears in the corners of both of their eyes.

They once more hugged as Taiga buried her hand into his chest as she wanted to just relax with him by her side for the first time in so long.

Ryuuji held her tightly as he caressed her beautiful almost golden locks and rubbed her head, normally she would be mad at him for treating her like a kid, but she just wanted him so didn't minded.

Ryuuji looked up for a second as he remembered that there wasn't the person who lead him here in the first place. He looked all around to see of she wasn't around anywhere, but she wasn't unfortunately.

Takasu wanted to thank her for what she done and apologize for how throwing her out after what happened, but she was nowhere to be found.

Until a dark car appeared from behind the corner, instantly Ryuuji noticed a familiar blue haired model who was also his friend despite what happened between them.

Ryuuji started waving and saying "Thank you". He knew that she probably wouldn't see him, but he still wanted to show his thanks to her as she did something not many people would do, Accept defeat and try to right your wrongs.

Taiga looked up as to who was he saying thank you to, she looked at the direction of where he was looking at only to see Ami driving off in the back of the car.

And despite everything that happened between them and what she told Taiga she still was glad that she did the right thing at the right time.

Ryuuji looked at his beautiful girlfriend once more.

"So what do we do now?" Ryuuji asked whilst getting lost in Taiga's ember eyes.

"let's go home" Taiga replied with a smile on her face as she stared back to Ryuuji's eyes.

They held each other's hands as they walked off to the sunset to be happy until the end of times.

Or atleast until life throws something at them again.

"Miss Kawashima, have you noticed that the young couple was waving at you?" The driver asked Kawashima as he looked in the rear-view mirror at her.

Kawashima nodded as she looked at his reflection in the rear-view mirror

"I know, i just don't want to look back anymore. I can be at peace now" Kawashima explained to the driver with her normal demeanor, but was she really speaking the truth? Sure she wasn't feeling guilty anymore, but was that really enough for her? She wanted to be happy too, but at the end of the day she knew that her happiness had to secondary to theirs if she wanted him to be happy. That's how life works, not everyone gets everything they want, she knew that better than anyone. Plus it was her punishment for executing her plan before.

"I see, very well. Anyways, Miss Kawashima where do you want me to go now?" The driver asked once more as he looked at her through rear view mirror. She looked back at him through the reflection of the mirror, now more confident than ever in her choice

"Drive me to my old place, we're done here" Ami said throwing her past behind her, she truly was at peace now with herself. Sure, Kawashima was sad that she had to abandon her friends and her love, but in order for everyone to heal up and for her to find happiness for herself she had to abandon her school life and them.

Kawashima took a one last look at the couple as she drove away to the beautiful sunset

Truly, it wasn't a beautiful dream. It was but a bitter reality.

**The End.**

_Or is it?_

One year later.

Ami was finishing up getting phographed for the cover of a clothes magazines.

The outfit she was wearing was very stylish, it was composed of a crimson coat, blue short skirt and a white shirt with a skinny bowtie which looked awfully similar to her old school uniform that she used to wear daily about a year ago. There, she met few of the best people on planet earth who taught her to love and most importantly to be herself. Of course she had to leave that place for her own personal reasons, but at last she was happy doing modeling for living. So in the end it wasn't so bad after all that she left.

"And we're done here" The producer shouted to the crew who all were focusing on photographing Kawashima.

She smiled as she felt good about good day at work.

Ami walked over to a chair they had on set so she could relax after work, and sat down in it. She closed her eyes and wondered off with her thoughts.

Someone came up to her, but she was so occupied with well relaxing that she didn't noticed that person coming up to her

"Hey Ami, a letter came in our mail, it has your name on it and it looks like something important, but i don't know it might be some weirdo trying to contact you. You want me to throw it away or give it to you?" A blond woman in the same age as Kawashima was disrupted her relaxation, Kawashima looked at her with a surprised face as she wasn't expecting her

"Oh hey, um i mean i can atleast take a look at it if nothing else, sure it might be some weirdo, but it might be something else" Kawashima replied with kindness in her voice, truly she was very different from the Ami Kawashima of old.

Her female coworker and most likely a friend handed the letter over to her

Ami started to read it thoroughly, her expression turned from neutral to shocked to pure joy as she smiled from ear to ear.

"Anyways, i was thinking wanna grab lunch tomorrow?" Her female coworker suggested, wanting to be friendly

"Hey, i'm sorry but i'm gonna be really busy tomorrow, you see something came up" Kawashima said as she got from her chair and touched her friends shoulder, leaving the letter on her chair

"Anyways, C'mon let's go before the producer becomes cranky again that we're hanging here out after shoots" Ami said as they started walking to the locker rooms, chatting along the way like good friends that they most likely were.

The letter that she left on that chair was a Ceremony invitation, to the Marriage of Ryuuji Takasu and Taiga Aisaka.

**The End** (for now).

Well, this is quite the litteral end. It's been a blast lasses and gals. Sorry for being so sentimental about this, it's just this story meant a lot to me.

Anyways, if i won't have to plessure to see you again i fare you a goodbye and i hope you will have a good day. And to those who want to stick around my profile and the things i'll write then thank you and welcome aboard since this ride is going to be wild, as i'm pumped to write something even after finishing this story.

But anyways, next stop i'll be writing Metro 2033.

See you all then - _**Totenwelt**_

**(Sorry but no Writers note as my writing of this chapter was so erradic) **


	9. Chapter 9 - Christmas Present

Happy New Year Folks! TotenWelt here. I bet you didn't expected another chapter like that huh? Well, i've been making this since Christmas and i wanted to release it on Christmas because Toradora is my Christmas tradition, but then i got sidetracked because of family and all of that, so i decided i would make this before New Years, but i got sidetracked with traveling, repairing my house, etc. causing me to not have enough time. Finally now i've found the time to finish up this chapter.

Anyways, another thing you might be asking: "_Is this a start of afterstory?" _and to that i have to say, yes and no. Technically it is a start of part two because it recaps the events of original story and well, tells a story a year later. But it doesn't push the plot and it's only really a fluff filler. So in a way, it's more or less a tie in for the two parts so people wouldn't be confused what's happening and all that when i release first part of After Story.

Speaking of which, _Oh What A Beautiful Dream!_ will return soon enough, right now i'm in a middle of creating something else so i can't put my full focus into it, but i'll try creating a new chapter in like a week or two, so be on the look out for that.

Anyways, that's all from me right now, have a good time folks reading this chapter!

**Shoutouts:**

**Dreamer15147**

I wouldn't be able to finish this story if it weren't for people like you supporting me on every step of the way. Of course, this is not the end of the story, no this is only the beginning. Like i said above i'm going to start writing After Story soon enough, I hope you'll read it. Now, as for the personalities i kind of didn't liked how some interactions turned out, i thought that maybe they weren't so good. But i'm glad that you think otherwise! Anyways, Thank You for reading this story all the way up until now and for being such a active viewer**.** I really cannot express how much that means to me.

**Uniscold43**

Thank you! I am glad that i have entertained and kept you invested through out the whole part. That's the biggest achievement any writer could do, so again thank you from the bottom of my heart. Anyways, as i have mentioned before i will return to this soon enough, just you wait. Anyways, i'm glad you like the fluff bits, they're pretty hard to write because they can sound rather (as much as i hate that term) cringy, which makes me rewrite them until they sound good enough, and even then i'm not exactly happy with how they turn out. Anyways, I hope you will enjoy reading this fluff chapter.

**And lastly, you the person reading this. Thank you for reading my story all the way up until now**

**Beginning of the story**

Ryuuji sat in his chair looking out the snowy outsides through his window, there was something beautiful about that sight of snowflakes hitting his window gently, it reminded him of himself and his girlfriend Taiga, but somehow they met and fell in love in each other despite how unique they all were. It made Ryuuji genuinely smile as he reminisced about how he met his beautiful lover.

It was almost a year ago when he rescued her from a horrible storm when she got lost, she was his friend in the past but more and more he realized that he wanted her to be more than friends, and thankfully for him she felt the same way as she kind of confessed to him as he was rescuing her, but she didn't knew that because for all she knew it was but a dream, he confessed his feelings back to her that night. The morning after she was very nervous at first about something, but soon enough Taiga was treating him like the boyfriend that he was. They spent few days cuddling and spending time with each other, but soon unfortunately that didn't last long as her mother called her back so she had to go away for a few days.

That was a start if his less pleasant memories, but they were worth remembering for what they represented, he was a shell of a man during that time as he missed her that much that he felt empty and like nothing was worth to him anymore besides her. But that was just the beginning of the problems, as soon he would find out that his female friend Ami Kawashima and Taiga's mother were inspiring against the two, both having some reason or another for wanting them breakup. They almost succeeded, but thankfully Ami had a change of mind and redeemed herself, she helped them get together and foiled Taiga's mother's plan, unfortunately with that Ami left and wasn't heard of since.

All was right in the world ever since then, Ryuuji moved in with Taiga to her giant apartment few months in dating with her, as it was getting a bit clustered living together with both his Mother and his girlfriend, plus he wanted to well live for himself a bit more as any person his age would, of course he still made food for his mother every day and visited her daily, but he just wasn't living there anymore. Of course it made Yasuho very sad, but on the other hand she was happy as a mother that he was standing on his own. Amongst other things they continued to study at the highschool as they did before, though this time their ranks in class were a bit thinner as aforementioned Ami left, not much is known about what happened or where she was, but people have been noticing her in magazines as a model, so she probably started modeling again.

Other than that, nothing really notable happened since that time, they both hit 18 and just lived their lives normally as students preparing to graduate.

Fast forward to today, it was a Christmas eve of 2009. Takasu was sitting in a chair in the living room of his and Taiga's apartment looking out the window, waiting for his lover to come back home, because Taiga was meeting her mother that day. Taiga at first despises her Mother for supporting their break up, but eventually Ryuuji convinced her to forgive her, which she did but she still didn't talked to her mother all that often ever since so she decided to spend some time with her on that day, because Christmas is a family holiday and all.

Ryuuji sat back in his chair as he kept looking out the window with a cup of hot chocolate in hand and his scarf around his neck that Taiga gave him back, because it lost his smell after months of her wearing it, of course she didn't wanted to say it out loud, but Ryuuji understood and started wearing it again.

Truly, he almost reached the peak level of comfiness, if only he had Taiga snuggling besides him would it be perfect.

But it was enough comfiness for him to eventually fall asleep looking out the window.

Takasu's body lied still resting on the chair as Taiga's small hands opened the doors to her apartment with bag in her hand and giant smile on her face, amongst meeting her mother she also got him a great present that she couldn't wait to give him.

"_Hey Ryuuji! I'm home!_ " Aisaka greeted him, not knowing he was in a deep slumber. Taiga pouted that he didn't greeted her or went to hug her as he always does when she comes home.

"_Hey Ryuuji! You're sleeping or what?_" Taiga shouted a little agitated, because she was used to receiving a lot of loving from Ryuuji all the time. She dropped her bags and walked over to her boyfriend still with a pouty look on her face, because she thought he was teasing her even though he never really did that even when he had a plenty of chances to do so, it just wasn't up his alley to tease her because he knew how much it irritates her.

"_Hey, stop teasing me!"_ Taiga lightly shouted at him with almost tears in her eyes as she shook his shoulder a bit, still getting no reaction she walked over to the front of the chair to see what was going on with him.

Only there did she realize that he was still asleep, despite her shouting her lungs out at him seconds before. Ryuuji looked so peaceful and cute in Taiga's eyes when he slept, of course she had seen that face countless of times, but that look on his face never got old in her eyes.

Taiga stopped pouting and decided she would join him in the chair as she sat on his lap and wrapped her hands around him as she always did in her free time, Ryuuji once more didn't noticed as she was very light, light as a feather infact.

But that sensation of feeling her hot breath tickling his neck as she hugged him made Ryuuji slowly but surely open his eyes, he did not expected Taiga to jump on him so suddenly so he stuttered a bit

"_H-hey Taiga, sorry I fell asleep so suddenly, I just got done cleaning so I thought I would sit back and relax for once_" Ryuuji greeted her as he hugged her back. Taiga upon hearing him talk withdrew herself from the hug so she could see his handsome face once more.

"_Hey Ryuuji, it's okay I don't mind._" Taiga smiled as she her face came close to Ryuuji's and as it did their lips made contact with each other, it was a pleasant kiss as they haven't had the chance to do so for almost a whole day. They both lost each other to the pleasure of each other's lips, so much so that they broke the kiss only once both of them were out of breath.

Taiga still had her arms around Ryuuji even as they broke the kiss, but this time she was just using them to support herself so she wouldn't fall off the rather unstable chair.

"_So, how did you enjoy hanging out with your mother?_" Ryuuji asked curious, after all they haven't hanged out for so long in a very long time.

"_And it went pretty well, I'm glad I got to meet my mom after what happened to us last year, I sent the packages to the children as I always do, but I'm most happy that I got you something special!_" Taiga smiled from ear to ear, happy for she reminded herself of what she bought him, a present that was both pragmatic and meaningful, which she knew he would really like as he is that sort of person, and for that she was beyond happy that she got it for him.

Ryuuji's eyebrow raised itself as he was really interested as to what his beautiful girlfriend got him.

"_Oh that's really nice Taiga, what is it?_" Ryuuji asked trying to sound normally, but inside he was really excited upon hearing she got him something, but he didn't wanted to seem like a annoying kid that's hyped to see the Christmas presents.

"_Not telling you! You have to wait until Christmas!_" Taiga said in a playful tone that she began doing only to tease Ryuuji, and seeing by his bashful expression it worked out well.

"_Okay, i'll wait until Christmas then_" Ryuuji said normally, though it was aparent that he was disappointed. Hearing that made Taiga genuinely sad, so to cheer him up she once more hugged him as tightly as she could.

"_I'm sorry Ryuuji, but let's make this Christmas special okay? It's the first time we're spending together after all_" Aisaka whispered gently in his ears, instantly making his mood better.

"_I know Taiga, it's okay. Speaking of which I also got you a present and I hope you'll like it_" Ryuuji whispered back to her softly, upon hearing that Taiga's eyes lit up like the lights on a Christmas tree that they set up near them few days before.

"_What is it Ryuuji_?" Taiga asked him as she once more separated herself from him to look him in the eyes, whilst he tried to hide his excitement upon hearing the news Taiga did no such a thing.

"_You said it yourself right? I can't tell you Taiga, you have to wait until Christmas_" Takasu denied Taiga the pleasure of knowing what present prepared for her.

It was the same necklace that he wanted to give her just before the accident with her and Ami happened, but as things got worse and worse he put that necklace away in a box and forgotten about it, but as he was moving to Taiga's place he found that box and it's contents, one of those things included that old Dragon/Tiger necklace that he bought to her all those months ago and never got around to give her. Ever since that day he tried to find a perfect way to give it to her, and since he knew just how much she loved Christmas, what better time to give it to her than that?

"_Hmm, fine_" Taiga pouted as she looked down looking disappointed, she looked just like a little kid who her parents told her that she couldn't get the toy that she wanted, which Ryuuji found really cute, and made him smile a bit.

Seeing him smile made Taiga get even more agitated

"_Stop treating me like a brat_" Aisaka once more pouted as she punched Takasu's ribs with a somewhat of a force behind it, she really disliked when he treated her like a child, or atleast when it seemed like he did, in reality he never did, especially when they started dating, she just wanted to be on par with Ryuuji. Despite everything she was still insecure about her appearance, she was already 18 but she looked like a 11 year old, who wouldn't be insecure in her boots?

Ryuuji surely didn't expected that punch, so he squealed in pain from the punch, it didn't hurt much he just didn't expected is all, she toned down her violence towards him quite a lot, but sometimes she still hurt him when he did something that would agitate her accidentally.

"_I'm sorry okay? I didn't smiled at you because you were acting like a kid, I smiled because I found you really adorable okay? That's it_" Ryuuji looked down embarrassed as he apologized to Taiga for something he didn't really meant.

She stopped pouting after seeing Ryuuji being so hurt, and instead she just hugged him passionately

"_It's okay, I know you didn't meant it Ryuuji, and I'm sorry for hitting you in the first place, I really can't wait to see your present_" Taiga said as she smiled and once more kissed him, though this time the kiss didn't lasted as long as the one the one before because she pulled away from his lips as they still had a lot of things to prepare, because it was Christmas afterall!

"_C'mon Ryuuji let's go to Yasuho's, I bet she's worried sick by now!_" Taiga lead the charge holding Ryuuji's hand with one hand and the second carrying the bag with all the presents with both Yasuho's and Ryuuji's presents.

Ryuuji simply nodded, picked up his presents for both Taiga and his mother and they were on their short way to Yasuho's home.

It felt really special to Taiga, as she got used to spending Christmas alone in her giant apartment, but this year, finally after spending Christmas alone for so many years she would be spending it with people that love her: her boyfriend and his mother who was so close to her that she took her as own mother, truly it was going to be a festive time in the soon-to-be Takasu house holds.

Ryuuji knocked on the door of his old house where only Fugly and Yasuho kept on living in. Thd young couple was greeted by Yasuho who was thrilled to see both of them, as she was very happy that the pair decided to spend time with her. They both greeted her back, and got into the apartment.

Ryuuji started to make food immediately as it was getting rather late outside by the time they went to Yasuho's and Taiga joined him as well, because Taiga wanted to learn how to cool so that she could be at least somewhat of a good housewife, which Ryuuji had no problem with teaching her.

Yasuho on the other hand just hanged around the house finishing setting up Christmas decorations to really make the festive mood.

After like 2 hours both Ryuuji and Taiga reappeared in the living room with a Christmas themed cake and Christmas Wagashimi in their hands, it was the most beautiful looking cake Ryuuji ever made and that was by a long shot, something about it was just perfect his usual cakes lacked the look, it almost always looked so bland and generic, but this time it looked very festive and overall pleasant to the eye, all courtesy of Taiga who overlooked the decoration of the cake.

Yasuho stood there completely shocked for she never saw a cake that fancy looking. Excited to eat it Yasuho turned off the lights, leaving them only with candles and the lights from the Christmas tree as their only source of light, but it had such a great ambiance and overall feel to it that it was just so perfect, one couldn't put it in words. They all sat down and started to feast on the cake and the wagashimi, after like a half an hour they finally ate all of the food and decided to make their way over to the presents which were nicely put under the tree by Yasuho when Ryuuji and Taiga were baking the cake.

There were only a few presents there, but all of them had a meaning behind them, they all served a point.

Normally Taiga would run up to the Christmas tree and start unwrapping her present the second she had the chance, but not this time, this time she was waiting for something, a reaction to her gift that she bought Ryuuji. She was still unsure if he would like it so she didn't wanted to disappoint him. Seeing Taiga not rush to the tree like a child gave him a hint that she wanted him to go first, so Ryuuji complied and did so. Taiga was looking at him really nervous and worried, wanting to see how he would react to the gift she bought him.

Ryuuji picked up a present from underneath the tree, it was a small, light package with "_For Ryuuji_" written on it, by the handwriting it was apparent it was a present from Taiga, Ryuuji carefully tore removed the wrapping so that it wouldn't make a mess, uncovering a small inconspicuous black box. Takasu opened it lifting the upper half of the box, in it lied a golden pocket watch of some sorts. It had "_RT_" engraved onto it with a heart outside of the initials. Ryuuji gulped as he was really impressed as to what she got him, and he also felt really bad because of the gift he was going to give her would definitely disappoint her compared to her gift. Ryuuji looked to Taiga who still was really tense and wanted to see his reaction to the pocket watch. She specifically chose that present because how well it tied back to him, first he is a very timely person as he has to do everything on time, and also she found out through Yasuho that his grand father used to wear golden watches as well, so she thought it would be a great gift, not to mention what lied inside of the watch, yes it was expensive on her part but it was worth it to see that shocked reaction that Ryuuji kept on though out the time investigating the watch.

Takasu brought his eyes back to the watch as he proceeded to open it to see if she left something, and it did.

It included a picture on one side of the watch of non other than his lovely girlfriend Taiga Aisaka with a quote "_There are many things that get older as time goes on, but my love for you isn't one of them_" written on it. Ryuuji once more stood there completely shocked, it was so adorable he couldn't handle it. Taiga looked at him more excited than ever, as she wanted to see what his reaction would be to it.

Ryuuji simply walked over to Taiga and hugged her tightly, surprised at first she threw her hands in the air a little bit, but then she placed them around his body and hugged him tightly back.

"_Thank you so much Taiga for that present, it means so much to me, I love you_" Ryuuji whispered in her ear, which made her so happy that he liked it so much. In response she snuggled uo against his chest and hugged him ever tighter with a smile on her face

"_I love you too Ryuuji, I'm happy you like it_" Taiga replied back simply as they both stayed in each other's embrace smiling in the process. They would stay that way forever if it weren't for the fact that they still had more presents to unbox.

Yasuho just looked at the young couple with a giant smile on her face, it reminded her past and how she was when she met Ryuuji's father.

They eventually let go of each other as Taiga looked at Ryuuji once more with a smile and walked over to the Christmas tree, there she picked up the present that looked like Ryuuji's because of his handwriting on the wrapping that had "_For Taiga_" written on it.

Aisaka wasted no time and ripped off the wrapping because of how excited she was, leaving quite the mess of torn wrapping on the floor. Taiga looked at the package that lied underneath the wrapping, it was a small wooden box with something inside it. She opened it by pulling the lid of the box and separating it from the rest of the package, there a neatly folded letter is lying on top of something underneath it.

Taiga picked up the letter and started reading it

"_Thank you Taiga for a incredible 2009, I'm so happy that I get to date you, it's been a long road getting here, but here we are. As a token of my love I bought you this, I hope you like it. I love you and Happy Christmas - Ryuuji_" Just reading that letter made her almost cry, never has she heard more sweeter sounding words from anyone else, truly she felt like she was the luckiest girl on the entire planet because she found her knight in the shinning armour. Of course she held back tearing up because she hasn't seen his gift yet, she decided if she was going to cry she was going to do it after that.

Taiga's small hand placed the letter in her pocket because she wanted to read it again later, exposing a beautiful looking necklace, the main ornament on it was a tiger and a dragon both standing on a balanced weight with "_You're a Tiger, and I'm a Dragon. For centuries only dragons and tigers have been considered equal. So even if I am not there I will I'll transcend space and time so I can always be with you. And my feelings will never, ever change._" engraved on the back of the necklace, little to Taiga's knowledge Ryuuji engraved that himself in his little spare time that he had over the year.

As Aisaka held that necklace in her hand and read the engravings she put her hand over her mouth and just kept looking at it very touched, then she turned over to Ryuuji, ran up to him hugged him tightly as her tears fell down from the corner of her eyes.

Ryuuji was taken back for a second, because he was expecting some sort of reaction from Taiga but not that strong, though it was pleasant feeling that he made her that happy, it filled him with happiness too as he hugged her back, tightly as ever.

Truly, it was a Happy Christmas for all.

"_Hey, that's not fair you two are the only one getting hugged all the time! I want to be hugged too!_" Yasuho pouted like a small kid as she ran up to the two and hugged the young couple, now with smile on her face.

After that they opened the rest of the presents, watched some movies, cleaned up and went to sleep.

Finally, after so long Taiga and Ryuuji were able to properly spend Christmas together. It was a unforgettable Christmas for the couple, and only the beginning of their memories together.

_**To be continued.**_


	10. Chapter 10 - New Story

Hello, Totenwelt here! Finally, after almost a full month of taking a hiatus I am back, writing this story full time once more. I missed this a lot I have to say. Anyways if you haven't read the last chapter titled "Christmas present" I urge to go read it as it's a bridge between the two parts if you haven't already, like the setting, what happened, etc. It's there to make you understand this part.

Also, apologies for not delivering on time I was solely focused on writing my novel last few weeks, not to mention I've just been stressed with this chapter so much lately, I've been hit such such a anxiety when writing this because it feels so how would I put it, not good and unfinished in my eyes. So basically I've been sitting on this finished chapter for almost a week, tweaking everything to make it more presentable for you all, but alas I still don't feel good releasing this chapter, but seeing as how much people has been visiting chapter 9 lately i forced myself to release this, so apologies in advance if you find it very bad I will do everything in my power to make the next chapter way better than this.

Now, I've been thinking about my schedule, and since I'm rather busy writing another story and my own novel at the minute so I think I'll set out to release at least one chapter per week, to know when I upload my chapter be sure to hit follow on this story. Also, i might make a profile on like Tumblr or something in the future so you can see what's up with me, and updates on this story, though more on that in the next chapter.

Anyways, that's sort of it from me for now. I really hope you all will enjoy this chapter at least a little bit.

**PS**: I apologize ahead of time about some inconsistencies like characters acting out of character or straight up acting weirdly, they're all planned and will be explained eventually as I make more chapters, it is intentional. So please pay that in mind as you read this and other chapters going forward.

And last thing before I go, this chapter is written mostly from a point of Ryuuji's view (still in 3rd person though) so he doesn't know everything that's happening around and what people think, he can only guess. Though note, that's not the case everytime, sometimes it's a inner monologue of someone else.

**Shoutouts:**

**jessy0622**

Thank you for reading this far! I'm really glad you liked it, and I hope I will be able to entertain you by this chapter and chapters I'll release in the future.

**A hh**

Glad you liked the story! Also, thank you I tried to make Ami as unlikable as I could for the sake of the story, whilst making her goals and reasoning realistic. So I'm glad she got that sort of reaction out of you.

**Story begins here**

It was a beautiful hot spring morning of 2010, birds chirped outside as the sun rose over the horizon, inviting it's beams to illuminate the Japanese isles.

One of those beams made their way over to the eyes of Ryuuji Takasu, who was accompanied by his girlfriend Taiga Aisaka who was snuggling tightly against him in bed, so much so she was practically using him as a hug pillow.

The irritation of sun beams reaching his eye caused him to awaken quite abruptly. Ryuuji slowly opened his eye as his body was still waking up, he looked at his side to see his beautiful doll-like lover still fast asleep basically being stuck on him under the warm blanket they both were covered by.

Ryuuji tried to think of how to get out of the bed without waking Taiga up, this was his morning routine as she always stuck to him with her whole body when she fell asleep, and because of this countless of times he accidentally woke her up when he tried to get up, causing her to be groggy and cranky for the whole day, which to a normal person would be pretty irritating, but when Taiga was groggy and cranky all hell gone loose to people around her. After a little while Ryuuji finally figured the best way to get out of bed without waking her up this time, he lifted Taiga's head slightly and slipped his arm away which she used as a pillow, like she did everyday as it became her favorite thing to do. Ryuuji slowly lowered her head onto the pillow and began slipping from her hug, only to be hugged even tighter. "_Stay with me for a little longer_" Taiga said still mostly asleep, but she was aware of the fact he was trying to get up.

It was a tempting offer for him, as he knew how great it feels to be sleeping besides her. Ryuuji reached out to his phone which was lying at a nightstand on his right but it was hard to reach due to the pure size of the king bed they both were lying in, though he somehow reached the phone, and so he checked the time on it, it was 6:15.

If it were a year ago he would get up no matter what to clean up, prepare breakfast and dress to the school, but lately he started to enjoy his mornings a bit more by sleeping in with Taiga until around 7:15 more and more often, of course to do so he started to clean up and make food the day before so he wouldn't have to do so in the morning, so he looked back at Taiga who was half asleep and half awake awaiting his answer, Ryuuji put the phone down.

"_Alright, but only for an hour okay?_" Takasu said as he set up an alarm to 7:15 and slipped back under the blanket and into welcoming Taiga's arms, who was happy he chose to sleep in with her a bit longer.

Soon after that they both fell asleep again, only to be awaken by the annoying sound of the alarm, Taiga's hugs were really magical as they had an ability to enchant anyone who received them by making them want to stay like that forever, unfortunately responsibilities called.

Ryuuji reached out for his phone and turned off the alarm as the couple both started to wake up, or rather only Takasu started to wake up and Aisaka was trying to go back to sleep. Ryuuji looked over to her as he woke up both mentally and physically. "_C'mon Taiga, get up we have to get ready for school_" He said to her to try and wake her up.

"_Give me a few more minutes Ryuuji_" Taiga pleaded with him to let her sleep in a bit longer, though she had no desire to get up at all.

Ryuuji sighed and gave up, he knew that he couldn't convince her to get up, and if he would make her get up she would be extremely groggy and cranky.

"_Okay, I'll go prepare breakfast, so please be up when it's done okay?_" Ryuuji asked, but he got no answer, though with the way she began softly snoring again he recognized that she was already asleep. Ryuuji sighed again as he got up from the king bed and walked over to the kitchen to prepare something to eat for the two of them and something for Yasuho too. He already prepared lunch for both of them the day before, but he still needed to make the breakfast.

In the matter of a few minutes he managed to whip up a omurice that looked very tasty and smelled even better, he placed two plates on the dinning table in the kitchen as he prepared the third omurice for Yasuho and began cleaning up the mess that he made in the process.

Taiga loved sleeping a lot, but if there was something she loved even more was food, especially when she was starving. The smell of the Omurice made it's way to her nose, waking her up immediately. She rubbed her eyes and ran over to the dinner table in the matter of seconds, even a year later it surprised and fascinated Ryuuji that food had such a effect on her, especially knowing how much she loved sleeping. When Takasu finally cleaned up the mess he made prior he turned back to the dining table only to see the Omurice he made for Taiga gone and Taiga sitting at the table with a face of pure euphoria, she somehow managed to chow down a full Omurice in a matter of a minute. Aisaka's appetite was another thing that fascinated Takasu.

"_You could have waited for me you know?_" Ryuuji pointed out to Taiga as he sat next to her as she still was still sitting there with a blissful expression and a fully belly. As the words pierced her ears she understood just the severity of what he just said and because of it she tensed up immediately.

"_I'm sorry but I was really hungry_" Taiga apologized as she looked down in shame because she realized that she might have hurt his feelings a little bit.

"_It's okay, I'm glad that you liked it so much_" Ryuuji said calmly with a slight genuine smile on his face, hearing that made Taiga relax a little bit that he wasn't mad at her but she still was a little bit anxious for some odd reason.

Both remained awkwardly silent after that as Ryuuji ate his Omurice, it was a bit of a awkward day and that was because Valentine's day was right around the corner and both were trying to think of what to give to each other they were sheepish about asking each other what the other wanted, as both took the day very seriously, so much that they treated it as a secondary Christmas of sorts. Though Taiga was acting awkward for a reason other than that, though Ryuuji was blissfully unaware of what it was.

Finally after a few minutes of eating and sitting in silence Ryuuji finished his meal, got up and picked up his plates as he proceeded to do the dishes in the kitchen.

Taiga looked at Ryuuji as he walked to the kitchen with a very anxious look on her face, as she wanted to ask Ryuuji something but she couldn't muster up enough courage to ask so she just looked down disappointed in herself, though Ryuuji didn't saw that.

Ryuuji looked at the clock that was hanging up right next to the kitchen, It read 7:50.

He stared at that clock with pure horror on his face as his gaze flickered back at Taiga.

"_Oh no, we're going to be late! Quickly put on your uniform, if we run maybe we'll able to make it on time_" Ryuuji shouted at Taiga as he left the plates in the sink, as they weren't completely clean. Upon hearing Ryuuji's voice being raised like that Taiga springed back to reality, confused and panicked.

Takasu ran over to the bedroom where their uniforms were neatly folded in the closet, he opened the closet with a lot of force because of the rush, almost breaking the closet in the process. Ryuuji scrambled to take their uniforms from the closet and ran back to the kitchen all in the span of a few seconds.

"_Here!_" Ryuuji said panicked as he gave Taiga her uniform, they both started changing quickly when they realized just what they were doing. They both turned red as tomatoes as Ryuuji looked at Taiga who was just frozen with embarrassment as her face contorted with negative emotions.

Despite dating for almost a year they still weren't used to showing each other a lot of skin, and that was mainly due to Taiga feeling very insecure about her body, so she always acted like her old Tsundere herself towards him whenever anything related to that came up.

Taiga upon finally unfreezing from the embarrassment turned to Ryuuji only to see him staring at her for a split second. With the insecurities kicking in again she turned violent once more like she used to do.

"_Stop looking you perverted dog! You mongrel!_" Taiga yelled at Ryuuji as she shoved him away to make him stop looking with her head hanging low as to hide her embarrassed face.

"_Wait!_" Ryuuji yelled back as he started losing balance before falling on his back, hurting himself quite a lot in the process.

Taiga raised her head when she heard the loud thump, and there she saw Takasu lying in pain rubbing his back with a face that told her he was in a lot of pain.

She stood there frozen again with both her hands covering her face as she realized just much she screwed up. This was the first time in a long time that her violent outbursts ever lead to Ryuuji getting hurt. She was so worried that Ryuuji was going to be mad at her because of it, or something ever worse.

"_I-I'm so sorry Ryuuji, I didn't wanted you to trip like this_" Aisaka said with anxious and nervous expression as she kneeled beside him to see if he way okay, she desperately wanted to see his reaction if he was mad at her or not. Takasu got up his up his feet with Taiga's help, stretched and took a look upon her again

"_It's alright Taiga, I shouldn't have looked_" Ryuuji apologized to Taiga as he rubbed his head that still hurt like hell because of the impact. Taiga couldn't look him in the eyes, she was both too ashamed and embarrassed, so she kept looking away from him.

They both sort of just stood there being awkwardly silent.

"_Um, anyways we should get going, we really won't make it if we won't hurry_" Takasu spoke up breaking the awkward silence.

"_Yeah_" Taiga whispered silently, still looking down embarrassed and ashamed. There was something bothering her a lot, but again she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"_Well, how about you go change to the bedroom then? I'll change here_" he said to Taiga as he looked at her, he could tell something was wrong, but he didn't wanted to push her any further so he just left it as it was until he could find a better time to ask her.

Taiga nodded, turned around and walked back to the bedroom, her uniform in hand, and with a teary face.

Ryuuji changed in the giant living room that also acted as a kitchen. As he finished changing he sat back at the dinner table and wondered what was bothering Taiga, he acted the same way towards her like he did for the last year, bought her gifts and tried to be the best boyfriend he could be. Yet she was hiding something, and she was unhappy about said thing. Though Ryuuji couldn't wrap his head about what it was, all he knew was that he needed to find out what was that thing that made her so unhappy.

Before he could think more about what bothering her Taiga returned from the bedroom, wearing her school uniform looking dazzling as ever, so much so he sat there sitting completely dazed by the sight of her in the uniform. Even a year later he was always hypnotized by her beauty.

It was apparent that she calmed down a little bit and even smiled a little when she looked at Ryuuji, question was if it was genuine or not.

"_So, are you ready to head out? We're going to be late if we don't hurry_" Taiga asked Ryuuji a little bit embarrassed, Ryuuji snapped back to reality upon hearing her beautiful voice.

"_Yeah, let's go_" Ryuuji replied as he got up to his feet.

They started walking towards the exit where their school bags were lying alongside their school boots. As the couple approached the shoe cabinet they started changing their boots as Ryuuji took one last look at the clock, his face turned pale again. It was 7:55, he looked at Taiga who was still changing her boots.

"_We have to go!_" Ryuuji shouted at Taiga as he grabbed their school bags in one hand and Taiga's hand in the other as he ran out of the door to try and make it to the class before the class started, though he made sure not to squeeze her hand too tightly to not hurt her.

After a few minutes of constant running they made it to the school, just a few seconds before the class started. Exhausted and out of breath they made it to their seats as they flopped to catch their breath

"_Hey, are you okay Takasu?_" A familiar voice asked from behind him, Ryuuji turned around to find out that voice belonged to noone other than the Council President and his good fiend Yusaku Kitamura.

"_Hey Kitamura, yeah I'm okay just out of breath is all, we got up really late so we had to run all the way from our home to school._" Ryuuji explained to Kitamura, he nodded in response as he adjusted his glasses whilst Ryuuji caught his breath.

"_Well, I'm glad you were able to make it to class on time, but you know as a Council President I have the duty to urge you to start getting up earlier so you and Aisaka are here earlier because it gives a bad reputation to the class that you come to the class almost late quite often_" Kitamura scolded Ryuuji because of his position as a Council President, he didn't wanted to but his role forced him to. Ryuuji nodded simply in a response. Maybe living with Taiga it made him softer, he used to get up 7:00 at latest so he would have enough time to make her breakfast but when he moved in slowly but surely he started getting later and latter more often.

"_Sorry, I've been getting up very last-minute lately, I'll start waking up earlier if it's a problem then_" Ryuuji apologized to the Council President. Upon hearing that he smiled slightly.

"_Thanks Takasu, sorry to dump it all on you first thing in the morning but I've been getting a lot of complaints from the teachers that saw you getting to the class last minute_" Yusaku explained to Takasu. That made him feel really bad about it, afterall he had so much duties to do as a council president that him getting bogged down with the complaints from the teachers about him and Taiga must have put a lot of stress on him in the process.

"_It's alright Kitamura, I don't mind. Anyways, did the teachers bothered you a lot about it?_" Ryuuji asked Kitamura, hoping for a no as that would make him feel at least a bit better about the situation.

Kitamura nodded a no.

"_Not really honestly, they just complained to me from time to time about it, I just thought I would bring it up seeing as you were almost late again..._" Kitamura explained his reasoning, but he wasn't done talking yet, he still had something to say.

"_...Anyways, That's enough of me for one day. So what about you? Are you feeling alright?_" He asked with a sort of concerned tone in his voice. Ryuuji was confused as to what he meant with that.

"_Yeah, I'm good why wouldn't I be?_" Ryuuji asked still completely oblivious as to the meaning of the question. Was it his demeanor that gave off vibes that he wasn't alright? Or maybe it was the way he looked or something? Ryuuji wasn't properly sure himself.

"_You look really stressed out, like way more than usual. Is everything okay?_" Kitamura asked his friend once more, looking and sounding concerned as ever. Takasu started really thinking about it properly as he found out that Yusaku is sort of right.

"_Well, I guess I just have my head full lately because Valentines day, so that's why I look so stressed. Not to mention Taiga has been acting sort of awkward towards me, so that's another thing_." Ryuuji explained as he turned around to look at Taiga and Minorin, who were talking with each about something, though he couldn't hear them as they were quite far away. Taiga was smiling and laughing, something he hasn't seen her do much whenever she was around him. Kitamura also focused his gaze on where Ryuuji's line of sight was aimed at, as he looked at the two best friends chatting he understood the issue.

"_I see, well I can't really help you out with that. Seeing as I don't have much experience in that regard, but I might know someone who could help you, in both your issues_" Kitamura explained his

Upon hearing this Ryuuji's ears perked up, wanting to hear who this mysterious person could be to help him with his troubles.

He turned away from the pair as he looked Kitamura in the eyes

"_Who do you have in mind?_" Ryuuji asked with burning curiosity plastered on his face. Kitamura adjusted his glasses and pointed back to the pair they were looking at just few seconds ago, Takasu's eyes darted over to where he pointed only to see that he was pointing at Minorin Kushieda the whole time.

"_Kushieda? Why her?_" Ryuuji said agitated as he looked back to Kitamura to search for more answers. Seeing his face like that was priceless to Kitamura, but he indeed was serious the whole time.

"_Easy really, who's the closest to Taiga and knows her tastes best and who does she trusts the most besides you?_" Kitamura asked Ryuuji who still sat there zoned out, thinking over the positives and negatives of that plan, and what it could lead to in the future, after a few seconds he zoned back in.

"_Kushieda huh? I mean, if I convinced her to help me then that would help me out a lot. But here's a thing me and her have sort of a awkward relationship, so I'm not completely sure that'll work out"_ Takasu looked down as he turned a little bit sad because he got his hopes up about solving his biggest issues but got his dreams crushed by ugly reality. Just as he did Kitamuta reached out to his shoulder, Ryuuji recoiled forward a bit as he didn't expected him to do that.

"_Hey, even if that's the case if you go out of your way to say it's for Aisaka I'm sure she'll help you. Of course I can help too if needed but like I said I'm not much of use in this situation I'm afraid_" Kitamura explained with inspiring passion and hope, instantly making Ryuuji more determined to fix that issue more than ever.

"_Yeah, you're right. And well, even if that doesn't work out at least I can't say I didn't tried._" Takasu said with optimism as a very slight smile on his face. Kitamura nodded in support.

"_That's good to hear, so when do you plan to talk to her?_" Yusaku once more asked. He knew that the sooner he talked to her the better, because the longer he would wait the bigger the chance was to screw up everything he had going on with Taiga.

Ryuuji stopped for a second and started thinking about that, he could talk to her after class, or he could just talk to her when it would the most convenient. At first he wanted to choose the latter option, but as the waves of potential very bad outcomes flooded his mind he choose the first option.

"_I'm gonna try talking to her after class if she has the time_" Ryuuji replied as he looked back at Kitamura, who was smilling that he succeeded in making him do something about his issue so he wouldn't be sad and miserable.

"_That's good to hear, i hope it'll go well. Also tell me how it went tomorrow_" Kitamura said in high spirits, he always had a good feeling after helping someone or in this case, steer someone on a good path.

"_Yeah, well..._" Takasu was about to something as the teacher came in to the class, they both understood that they would have to dissolve their conversation for now and take their seats.

Kitamuta walked towards his seat near Ryuuji's, and kept standing up as all of the students stood up at attention along side him to show respect to the teacher. The whole class sat down as the teacher called out the Council President to do his every day speech/report. Like every day since he took over the position from his crush it turned into everyday's routine, and this time was no different.

Though Ryuuji had no interested about that, as soon as he sat down he looked at his girlfriend who was oblivious to the fact he was staring at her as she was focusing on what the teacher was talking about.

Oh how much would it be easier if he could see in her head, but alas he couldn't, all he could do was try and fix it through other means. He averted his gaze from his girlfriend to her best friend: Minorin Kushieda.

Kushieda was always a very interesting person in his eyes, energetic, always upbeat and forever hopeful, originally he had a crush on her during most of his 2nd year in the highschool, he always suspected that she had one on him too but he never found as after he started dating Taiga she began avoiding him in a great lengths, so much so it was very apparent she didn't wanted to be around him, though when Taiga asked her about it she would always dismiss it and say she just doesn't have the time to hang out with him. Maybe it was jealousy that someone took her precious Taiga, or maybe something else? Well, that didn't mattered anymore as he only needed her to find out what was up with Taiga through her, not to mention it was a waste to think about the past.

All he could do then was wait for the right opportunity.

Few hours later after, the classes ended and finally he found a chance to go talk to her as he couldn't do so before as Taiga was by her side the whole time, and that would be utterly pointless if Taiga heard his plan. Fortunately for him though she went to the toilet after the last class, leaving only Ryuuji and Kushieda in the class as they were both waiting on her. Kushieda was packing her stuff as waited on Taiga because she was unexpectedly free that day as she wasn't working any part time jobs and she didn't have softball practice that day, so she decided she would hang out with Taiga.

He sat back and went over about how he should approach her, had no idea how he would do it.

After thinking about it very hardly he came to a conclusion that the best course of actions would be to just wing it and ask her straight on if she could help him.

He got up from his chair and slowly begun walking to her, a lot of emotions welded up inside of him, though none of them could overpower his sense of determination to find out Taiga's problem and fix it.

Upon hearing the footsteps of someone walking towards her direction Minorin looked up with quite the cheery expression on her face, though as she realized who she was looking at her expression turned more grim unconsciously.

"_Hey, Kushieda_" Ryuuji greeted her with a wave, for a second Minorin looked away as if she was disgusted by his very present, though she looked him in the eyes again.

"_Hey Takasu! What's up?_" Minorin put her happy go lucky facade on again against Ryuuji, but she was anything but happy to see him, there was just feeling of bad memories and discomfort for her whenever they accidentally or not bumped into each other.

"_Nothing much honestly, I'm just waiting on Taiga to go home with her I guess_" Takasu explained as he looked towards the door, looking if Taiga wasn't around though she didn't returned yet.

"_Oh, I'm hanging out with her after school_" Kushieda added. Even though she said just that he knew exactly what she meant by that, she wanted him to go away and leave her alone. Unfortunately for her he wouldn't just go away that day.

"_Right, I guess I'll just go home then if she's going to be busy hanging out with you then..._" Ryuuji said as he turned away and began walking to the outside of the class, Minorin sighed silently as she though she just dogged a bullet by making him go away, or so she thought as he stopped midway to the class door and just stood there.

"_... Though, I have a favor to ask you before I do_" He continued, a very suffocating feeling filled Kushieda's body, she thought that she won and that he would go away and not torment her, but alas she wouldn't be so lucky.

"_What is it?_" Minorin asked, sitting on the edge of her seat hoping he would ask something really simple and meaningless. Ryuuji turned back to her with a serious look on his face, that expression mixed with those dangerous looking eyes would make any man or beast tremble,and it scared Minorin a little as she never saw that part of him.

"_Can you please find out what's been bothering Taiga lately?_" he asked with passion in his eyes, of all things she expected him to ask for this was the last on the list. She stood there bewildered.

"_Huh? What do you mean?_" Kushieda asked, still completely perplexed as to what he just asked for. He looked at her straight in the eyes and said.

"_Taiga has been acting very strange lately, and I don't have a clue why, I can tell something is really hurting her, but I just can't find find out why is that._" Ryuuji pleaded with her, his serious expression quickly melted away and was replaces that of a desperation and sadness.

"_I had no idea she was suffering like that, if I did I would have talked to her earlier about it_" Minorin's gaze lowered itself by a lot as she put on a thousand yard stare watching the floor beneath her. So many thoughts coursed through her mind. How could have she be so blind to not see her best friend suffer? She felt like a failure of a friend because she knew how much Taiga hid her true intentions and she thought she could tell what she really felt, but not that time where it counted the most.

"_So, will you help me them?_" Takasu broke the silence and her very long train of thoughts. Kushieda snapped back to reality as his voice made it to her ears. She looked back at him with a concerned look on her face.

"_Yeah, she's my best friend after all_" she explained, he already knew of course that's why he went to her in the first place amongst other personal reasons, for example he hoped he would rekindle the friendship that fizzled out after he started dating Taiga.

"_Thank you for understanding my.. or well in this situation our problem and for helping me out."_ he thanked her with a slight bow, she nodded back in a response. She didn't really wanted to help Ryuuji but she had to help Taiga, but that was all that Ryuuji was asking for.

"_It's no problem Takasu_" she replied, despite sounding very up beat and joyful like she always does, the truth was that it was the last thing she was, a lot of emotions went through her head. Mainly negative, but with some positive feelings sprinkled in.

"_Well, if you say so. Also I'm really sorry our friendship has soured so much over the last year, I should have talked to you like this sooner_" he apologized, sure she was doing everything she could to avoid him, but he still felt it was his mistake for not pursuing the friendship even when she kept avoiding him for some reason.

"_No, it's okay you don't have to be sorry, this was my fault_" Minorin looked down in shame. Though despite feeling bad about it she was kind of glad he wanted her help, because it gave her a reason or a excuse rather in this situation to talk to him alone, so it was a blessing in a disguise in a way.

"_Anyways, I'll try and find out what's been on her mind lately when I hang out with her, I'll tell you how it went tomorrow._" Minorin continued with her happy go lucky attitude, but it was really easy to tell she was feeling the opposite of that inside.

"_Thank you, let's hope everything goes well_" He thanked her, just as he said this his girlfriend Taiga walked back from toilet, she hasn't returned to the class room yet, but rather she opted to listen and look to see what they were up to. Her eyes widened as she saw the two of them together, they weren't doing anything bad per-se. But because they were talking without her being there she came up to a conclusion they were up to or planning something, Which made Taiga very paranoid and anxious as despite nothing happening she still it felt a little betrayed by the two.

"_Yeah, I hope so too._" Kushieda said as she looked onto Takasu's sharp eyes. She hoped she was going to find out what was wrong with her, but deep down she wasn't sure if she going to be able to make her spill the beans about her problems, that's why she prayed and hoped that she was going to make it.

"_Anyways, I have to go now because the market is going to close soon and I need that food to prepare Dinner for me and Taiga, So I'll see you around_" Ryuuji said goodbye. Kushieda nodded back, at first she wanted him to leave immediately, but if he stuck around a little while longer she wouldn't mind one bit.

"_Goodbye Takas_u" Kushieda smiled with a giant fake grin on a face as she made a thumbs up gesture towards him. He nodded and walked out of the classroom, as he did she sighed because it took a lot out of her to keep that facade of a happy go lucky Minorin.

After Ryuuji walked out from the classroom he noticed Taiga standing infront of the classroom, normally he'd ask what she was doing there but he didn't wanted to be annoying.

"_Hey Taiga, I heard from Kushieda you two are going to be hanging out with each other, I'll prepare a dinner for you when you come back_" Takasu said, as soon as he started speaking he caught her attention. Aisaka turned and walked up to him as she listened to what he had to say, as he finished talking she hugged him tightly. It totally caught him off guard, she was the one who said that they shouldn't do lover stuff in school as it made her embarrassed, yet here she was hugging him tightly as she could. She stood there wailing his hands for a solid second as he calmed down and understood what she was doing, still though he turned as red as a tomato because they still were in school and anyone could see that at any moment, which he found embarrassing.

Taiga looked up to way taller Ryuuji as she raised herself up to her toes and perked her lips, Takasu understood what she wanted him to do without telling him a single word. He closed his eyes, brought his head to hers and perked his lips expecting a kiss. And a kiss he got, It was so passionate that he couldn't remember the last time that it felt so great to kiss with her. Their lips continued to wrap around each other as they drowned in the sheer ecstasy.

Eventually they parted their lips as they were out of breath

"_Thanks Ryuuji, I love you_" Taiga looked up at Ryuuji with a giant smile on her face, it was still a bit puzzling for Takasu as she never did it with him in a school let alone out of nowhere like that. But after seeing that smile he forgot all about, all that mattered to him was her happiness.

"_No problem Taiga I love you too, anyways I'll see you later tonight_" Ryuuji smiled genuinely back to his lover, her happiness made him happy too.

"_Yeah, see you later tonight Ryuuji_" Taiga nodded as she waved him goodbye, still a smile on her face. Ryuuji waved her off too and he walked away with a smile on his face too.

As soon as he walked around the corner though her smile quickly dropped, there was still that thing bothering her.

Aisaka opened the door, revealing Kushieda sitting in her chair with a neutral look on her face, thinking of the passing events that just transpired. If there was anyone who would know what's truly going on with her, it was her. Both her and Ryuuji hoped that to be the case.

**End of Chapter 10 - New Story**


	11. Chapter 11 - Trouble In Paradise

Hello Totenwelt here! Yup, it's been 2 months. I highly apologize for going M.I.A. For close to 2 months, It's been a interesting time for me in my life, I mostly was either busy or burned out from writing as I spent most of my free time writing both my novel I've been working for some time and this chapter that I've done like 3 drafts for at this point, first one got lost in the void of data when my whole application I use for writing got accidentally deleted, and so did like a month of the work on my novel. So that's what I've been trying to do for the last 2 months, trying to get back where I was with my novel before my data got deleted, and this fanfiction took a back seat to it. But to tell you the truth I've got burned out like midway into it, as I realized that I haven't posted a new chapter in over a month. I wrote a whole chapter in a matter of 3 days, but as I've read through it I realized it was subpart, tried to reedit it in the next couple of days, realized it was unsalvageable so I decided to throw it out as it was below my standards as a writer, got burned out completely so I took 3 week hiatus from writing, and now I'm here 3 weeks gone by and I'm excited again to get back in the saddle.

On the other note, I hope you're all doing well in the wake of the pandemic, also because I have a lot of time now I thought I'd give you ladies and gentlemen something special, so I'm officially announcing that I'm gonna work on a another chapter just as this chapter goes live, and I' m gonna make it special since I seriously owe you guys for missing in action for so long, so I'll do a double chapter next time (Hopefully by the end of this week), I wanted to wait a few days and bundle this with the other chapter but I decided against it as it would take time and as times are uncertain now I decided I'd rather upload it as soon as I can to entertain and or to distract people in these tough times for even just a few minutes, but anyways I believe we can make it through! So stay safe, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter :)

**PS**: I made a Tumblr account, so if you want to see updates about the story and all be sure to follow me at blog/toten-welt

**Shoutouts**:

**jessy0622**

Thank you for enjoying last chapter! I hinted at it a bit in this chapter, but you'll have to wait and see how it turns out :) either way I hope I'll get to hear what you think of this chapter.

Also, thanks for understanding the pain writing sometime takes, don't get me wrong I love doing this, It's just that due to my perfectionist personality I wish to put out only the best content out there and sometimes It's hard to do so.

**DeinPxdoxD**

Finally, I was waiting so long for a review such as this, I do mean it. I always wanted to hear an actual criticism on my story, don't get me wrong I love hearing people talk nicely about my stories as it's the thing that fuels me to make more. However I want to improve, I admit I am a amateur writer, I'm not a person who's been writing actively for years, but I want to learn how to be a better writer and I'd like to make a living out of it one day. However that's the future, We live in the present, That's why I want to get better, there's a long road ahead of me and for me to get on the top I need to get better.

Anyways, let me address your point. Now you are correct I am not from a country where English is the main language and whilst my English is far greater than anyone that I know of that lives in my country that still doesn't change that yes I don't understand all sentences, words, etc. Properly but I'm trying my best and I hope it doesn't detract from the experience too much, thanks for liking my story and if you got any tips about what should I change or try then let me know in here in reviews on PM me, I would be glad if you could do so.

**Dlaclark**

I appreciate a lot that you went out your way to review my story! I try to improve as time goes on but I apologize if this chapter isn't as good as the others as I'm a bit rusty. Also thank you for liking my balance between romance and drama, it's one of the things I am truly proud of when it comes to writing this story.

And all of the people who read this story! You rock

**Story begins here:**

Taiga Aisaka stared upon her best friend Minorin Kushieda with a slight smile as Minorin was still looking nowhere with a empty look on her face, she was thinking about all the things that just transpired, and mainly how was she going to get Taiga to tell her what's wrong, normally she'd tell her all of her problems and issues whenever they happened as that's what kind of friendship, and they had between each other, however this time she didn't tell her how she felt and tried to hide whatever was bothering her as she found out from Takasu that there was something wrong with her, and the worst thing to her was that she didn't even realize that she was suffering herself, which made her feel like she wasn't as good of a friend as she thought she was. And that's why she was determined to help her best friend however she could.

"_Minorin_!" her train of thoughts got quickly interrupted as Taiga called out to her as she hurried over to her desk she was sitting at with smile across her face, it was hard to tell if it was genuine or not. Kushieda turned over to Aisaka with a shocked expression plastered all across her face as she was still zoning in, as she realized that it was Taiga talking to her that expression turned to that of joy as she began smiling to her friend once again as she always did when Taiga affectionately greeted her.

"_Are you ready to head out_?" Aisaka asked her best friend cheerfully, still smiling from ear to ear. Kushieda nodded back as she closed her eyes and smiled.

"_Yes, let's go_" Minorin replied with her usual cheery tone, but behind that facade she was anything but that, there was this indescribable feeling slowly welling inside Minorin, but she decided to ignore it as her priority was helping Takasu figure out whatever issue and or problem Taiga had on her mind not worry about her weird feelings. Minorin stood up from the desk she was sitting at, picked up her blue school bag that was resting at said desk. Taiga silently waited on her as she was carrying her school bag already, Minorin picked up her back and put it over her shoulder as she nodded to Taiga to show her that she was ready to go. They both started to walk to the door that was the exit from the room.

"_So where are we heading again?_" Taiga asked Minorin, curious as it was Minorin's idea to hang out in the first place, so she expected her to have some idea where they would head to.

"_Hmm_" Minorin thought about it very hard as she scratched her chin with a focused expression on her face that almost bordered being a parody, because of the events that transpired few minutes ago she completely forgot about the place where they were supposed to hang out, she silently cursed Takasu in her mind. Minorin's hand quickly transitioned from scratching her chin to her raising her hand as she snapped and raised her index finger in the air. Taiga looked upon her with confusion as she raised her eyebrows to what she had planned out. Kushieda turned her head to Taiga with a excitement on her face, she just remembered that they finished building a new mall a few minutes away from the school and that's exactly where she wanted to go hang out.

"_Remember how I told you about the new mall they were building some time ago_?" Minorin asked Taiga excited beyond words, Taiga nodded back "_Yeah, I think I do, why do you ask?_" She was still very confused, but she decided to wait for Minorin to just explain it. "_Well, they opened it!_" She herself almost jumped with excitement as she explained it out loud, Taiga's expression turned from confusion to excitement as she heard the news escape Minorin's mouth.

_"Wait, really? When did that happen? I thought they weren't supposed to open until Summer_" Aisaka questioned, she was sure that was the case because Ryuuji told her so a few months back. "_So did I, but when I was going around it this morning I thought I'd stop and look at the progress they done so far, and to my surprise it was completely done and the sign on the main doors said_ 'Opening on February 20th at 12:00' _Which is today!_" Minorin explained to her with a smile still plastered on her face, she was hoping that maybe going shopping to the new mall for a few hours could cheer her up a bit, it was her best bet if nothing else.

_" Wow, well let's check it out then! I wanted to go there for ages_" Taiga very excitedly exclaimed to Minorin who nodded back in agreement, she had faith that she could make whatever was bothering her go away or at the very least disappear for a while today. As they finished their conversation they finally made their way out of the classroom, onto the streets, and they've started walking towards the mall, on their way there they begun talking about what they were going to buy there, Minorin wanted to buy some new clothes as she couldn't remember the last time she did that, Taiga on the other hand wanted to buy something more specific, A Valentine's Day gift for Ryuuji to be exact. Originally she was going to buy it somewhere else but as she hoped that they would sell the gift that she wanted to give him. They made it to the mall in a few minutes time, there they went to basically every shop in the new mall to see what they had there. At last, a few hours later they made it to the shop where Taiga needed to stop at, it was a gift shop. Normally it'd be filled with boxes, decorations, wish cards and other products for a gift or a party, but because Valentine's Day was just around the corner the theme of the gift shop was Love, and that meant that the usual decorations and wish cards were replaced by Valentine's Day themed decorations, wish cards and other products. As Taiga and Minorin approached the shop it radiated love evem from far away, no other shop in the mall had such a extravagant Love theme.

"_So you need to buy what again?_" Minorin asked, carrying a few bags in her hands that were filled mostly with clothes from her shopping spree. Taiga turned to her, unlike her best friend she was empty-handed, she needed but two things and both of them were in that shop "_Obviously Chocolates, and then I thought I would buy him a photo album of our best moments spent together!_" Taiga exclaimed to Minorin, excited, Seeing her be so happy made Minorin happy as well, but something wasn't right, there went that weird strangling feeling again, but now wasn't the time to focus on personal feelings, she finally got Taiga on the right place, so she just decided to ignore it for the time being.

"_Ooo, I didn't take you for such a romantic_" Minorin chuckled, seemingly as happy as Taiga. "_Well, I guess I am_" Aisaka smiled back, Be it a year or two ago she would act like the biggest tsundere under god's green, but thanks to none other than Ryuuji she embraced herself and opened up about her feelings, for the most part at least.

The two best friends walked into the love themed shop where a young female cashier set stood behind the counter, as she saw the two girls her she turned to them with a smile "_Hello, Welcome to Hiroshi store, how may I help you?_" The cashier asked Minorin and Taiga politely, in response Taiga walked up to the counter and began asking around the cashier. "_Hello, I wanted to ask do you sell Valentine's Day themed photo albums?_" Taiga asked the cashier as she had to look up due to the giant size difference between her and the cashier.

"_Oh, of course. Here we have a few here on the display_" The cashier turned around and picked up a few photo albums that were on the display on a shelf, she put them on the counter for Taiga to observe. She took them in her hands to see which one she liked the most, there were 3 in total. The first was very over the top, it was pink with a red heart all across the cover, the second was a bit more subtle well actually too subtle for Taiga's liking as it was purely black with only a few small white hearts near the edge of the cover, and then there was the third one, it was entirely made out of brown leather unlike the other two which made out of plastic, and the main decoration in it was a giant heart shaped sowed in with another lay the leather. As Taiga laced her eyes on it she knew that she would take it home with her that day, she nodded to herself as she put all three photo albums back on the counter as she pointed towards the leather one "_I'll take that one_" Taiga said to the cashier as she reached for her wallet in her school she had in her school bag. The cashier nodded "_Okay, do you want something sowed into the heart? It'll cost extra but it could be a nice addition_" The cashier prompted her into spending more money on the photo album, that wasn't a problem for Taiga as her funds were basically bottomless, plus she found it were sweet. "_Sure_" Aisaka nodded back with a smile on her face. "_Very well, so what do you want sowed on there?_" The cashier asked her. Taiga took a long thought about it, She could simply make the cashier sown her and Ryuuji's first name, but she wanted to do something more romantic.

"_Takasu, That's TA-KA-SU_" Taiga explained to the cashier, She decided for 'Takasu' as well it was Ryuuji's last name, and eventually it would be Taiga's too. "_Ta-ka-su? Okay give me a few minutes to sew it in, in the meantime feel free to look around the shop, see if anything caughts your eyes_" The cashier said as she walked into the backroom where the sounds of a sewing machine were heard.

Just as Taiga was told she turned around and noticed Minorin who was standing at a Chocolate stand, there lied many types and varieties of chocolates. As Taiga watched Minorin she remembered that she had to buy chocolates too. Aisaka begun walking towards her friend. "_Hey Minorin, something caught your eye?_" Taiga said in a friendly tone as she walked up to her best friend, Minorin turned to Taiga with a cheery smile "_No, I just got a sweet tooth is all_" Minorin laughed it off with her happy-go-lucky facade, It was a bit weird to Taiga that she didn't buy any chocolate before if she had that sweet tooth, but Taiga didn't dwell on it any further. "_Oh, I see well which one are you going to buy?_" Taiga asked, curious. Minorin picked up a red box of chocolates in response. "_I had these a few times already, and they're wonderful!_" Kushieda explained with a smile on her face. The box looked really familiar to Taiga, it reminded her of the chocolates Ryuuji's mom used to bring home from work back when they all still lived together, but she couldn't tell if it was the same chocolate company or not, but it could have very well be. "_Hmm, they do look really good, I'm probably gonna get these for Ryuuji_" Taiga nodded as she examined a box that was the exact same as Minorin's, the box wasn't anything big but it looked very neat and appealing despite not showing off the chocolate that lied underneath. She looked at the flavour, it was Milk Chocolate, Ryuuji's favourite. It was decided, she was going to buy that one for him. Taiga took the box of chocolates she was examining and took it with her, she turned back to Minorin. "_Do you want anything else here?_" Taiga asked her best friend once more, she shook her head. "_No, I'm good Taiga_" Minorin simply replied to Taiga. "_Let's go pay for the chocolates then_" Taiga said to her best friend as she began walking back to the counter where she placed the box of chocolates, Minorin did the same. Eventually the cashier came back with the leather photo album that now spelled 'Takasu' in the middle of the sowned in heart, they paid for the things they bought and continued on their shopping spree, or rather Minorin's shopping spree.

After many hours when Minorin basically dragged out Taiga throughout the many shops in the mall they finally finished shopping. "_Finally I got everything I wanted and even what I didn't wanted, and my wallet feels ten times emptier_" Minorin cried as she carried or for the better term tried to carry the many bags filled with clothes, food and many miscellaneous and unrelated items, of course Minorin struggled heavily to carry all the bags so Taiga decided to help her out by carrying some of the bags as she bought only two items that could be fitted into just one small bag.

"_Well maybe you should have thought twice before buying everything that came into your view that you liked, dummy_" She genuinely laughed as she helped carry her bags, they were pretty heavy, but they were just enough for Taiga's frail yet strong body to carry them with quite the ease

The pair walked out of the mall, as they did they realized just how long they spent there by looking at the sky where the sunset ruled, preparing for nightfall. Both of them knew that it was about time to split ways and go on to their separate paths. Taiga turned to Minorin, still carrying the bags "_Hey, do you want me to help you carry it home?_" She asked her best friend, however she shook her head in the response. "_Thanks, but I already called my mom to come pick me up, so don't you worry about me!_" Minorin smiled with her eyes closed as she gave Taiga thumbs up when she put the bags to lie by the wall of the mall, upon hearing that Taiga nodded and put the bags she helped to carry to rest on the wall as well just as Minorin did. When she finished she put the bag with the gifts she prepared for Ryuuji on her shoulder as she turned to Minorin once more.

"_So, I guess I'll be on my way then, thanks for hanging out with me, I had a blast as always Minorin_" Taiga smiled as she looked at Minorin and said her goodbyes. "_Yeah, Same! I had a blast too, and see you later alligator_" Minorin said her goodbyes as well as she beamed joy at Taiga, in response she nodded, waved off and turned around, and with that she begun walking to her home and her most beloved Ryuuji. Minorin's huge smile quickly turned to a frown as she looked down, despite spending the whole afternoon with her she couldn't achieve the one thing that she sought out to do that day, and that was to find out what issues she had, Minorin decided it was now or never.

She raised her head proudly as she called out to Taiga in a different tone than she normally spoke with "_Wait, Taiga! can I ask you something?_" She stopped her best friend, as those words pierced her ears she felt a weird sense of deja vu, that tone and overall situation reminded her of something, yet she couldn't put her finger on it. Taiga quickly turned around to see what she wanted to ask, she would answer any of her question, she's her best friend after all... "_Taiga, is everything okay? I've noticed you acting a bit off today_"

Well, any question but that one. Minorin knew it was bold and risky asking her head on, but she just had to find out the truth anyway possible. Normally Minorin would leave it is if something like this happened, however after hearing Ryuuji's concerns she decided against it, no matter how much she hated putting her best friend on spot like that she decided she just had to do it once for her well-being, well that and because Ryuuji asked her. Taiga looked down, depressed. She tried her best to hide her problem that was slowly eating away at her metaphorically. She was divided over what she should do, on one hand she could just said the problem and get it out of her chest, but then she would drag Minorin into her problems, whilst on the other hand if she stayed silent and bottled it up she wouldn't drag Minorin into her problems. It was time to choose... She looked back up, bearing a new expression.

"_Yeah I'm fine, I don't see why I wouldn't be?_ " She replied to her friend with a lie to her face. Minorin stood there taken a back, she didn't expect that answer. She was conflicted, Taiga never really lied to her so she was sure she wouldn't start now, but Ryuuji on the other hand seemed really sure about it, she couldn't figure it out no matter what. To say Taiga flipped the tables on Minorin with that bluff was a understatement, whatever plan she had was in shambles, and she was left questioning if what she was told was right. However Taiga didn't felt pleasure or joy from it, she wasn't like Ami she actually felt awful for lying to her friend like that, but she had to for her own sake. Minorin tried to word something cohesive as a response but was left without the ability to speak despite having her mouth wide open, in defeat she shook her head and just huffed "_Never mind, sorry for asking_" with the best attempt at her happy-go-lucky facade she could put up on such a short notice out of nowhere. Taiga just nodded at that.

"_Okay, well if that's the case I guess I'll be heading then, thanks for hanging out with me Minorin I enjoyed it a lot, see you tomorrow_" She said her goodbyes to her best friend, the still stunned Minorin simply just nodded and replied "_Yeah, you too_" emotionless. As Taiga heard that she began walking towards her home, however she stopped halfway to give her one last wave, which now recovering Minorin returned but as Taiga turned her back she begun wiping something as drops of liquid fell on the ground. As Minorin noticed those drops it sort of pulled her from the trance. Minorin had so many questions on her mind, like were these tears? And what not, but before she could piece them together let alone put them cohesively into a question Taiga already disappeared behind a corner. Minorin finally recovered, more determined than ever. Yes, whilst Minorin might have lost that day, but she knew she'd succeed eventually given time, she had to.

Taiga after a few minutes made it home at last just in the nick of time as it was just a few minutes away from nightfall, however when she walked in the building she and Ryuuji were residing at she was empty-handed and that was because she hid her presents for Ryuuji at his Mother's place as she was the one who helped her with picking the gift for him. As Taiga opened the door she saw her boyfriend Ryuuji who was stereotypically doing dishes in the kitchen, as he heard her open the door he tried to turn around and greet her, however before he could do that Taiga's small body was wrapped around his. Taken back he recoiled back a bit before realizing what was happening, as he did he looked at the palm top tiger snuggling his lower torso and embraced her in return. "_Hey Taiga, so how was it like hanging out with Kushieda?_" Ryuuji asked his girlfriend who still continued to snuggle neatly against him. "_Hey Ryuuji, It was great but I missed you a lot_" Taiga replied as she looked at Ryuuji with perked up lips and puppy eyes. Ryuuji understood exactly that she wanted to make out, however he still needed to finish the dishes because he knew that once they went at it that'd be it for the day. "_Hold on let me finish the dishes Taiga_" Ryuuji said to the needy tiger. "_Okay, I'll be waiting in the bedroom then_" She sighed with sadness and disappointment as she let go of her dragon and walked off to the bedroom Ryuuji looked at her with concern in his eyes, he could sense that her issue persevered, he only hoped Kushieda found out whatever was bothering her that day.

After Ryuuji finished cleaning away the dishes he emerged in the bedroom wearing his sleeping clothes he wore whenever he went to sleep, the excitement of her girlfriend who was lying in the King bed waiting for him to lie down was simply contagious, she couldn't wait to snuggle with him like she always did, and that was the case as he turned off the lights in the bedroom and lied down right next to his lover, as soon as he lower his guard he was attacked by a vicious tiger with hugs and cuddles that thirsted after affection and love, which it got as the dragon battled the tiger with hugs and cuddles of his own. Soon enough though Taiga wanted more, so she pulled out the perking lips and puppy eyes combo like she did earlier to get even more love and affection from Ryuuji, which it did as he took the initiative and pressed his lips onto hers, the sweet and warm sensation filled his senses once again as he got reminded how sweet Taiga's lips felt, so much, so he wanted to feel them again, and again. And he did just that, their lips collided time and time again, only taking breaks when both were out of breath, and when they did they continued to hug and cuddle. They continued like this for quite the long time until hours later both of them fell asleep from the exhaustion in each other's arms, hugging. World's cutest couple even in sleep.

Meanwhile, a few kilometres away from them a lonely Minorin Kushieda sat on her bed, thinking. Something just wasn't right, she felt it earlier a few times, there was something slowly strangling her. It was a unpleasant feeling, one that slowly kept on getting worse with time, she hoped it would go away before long. Minorin took good a look at the chocolates she bought earlier before turning off the lights and going to sleep.

**End of Chapter 11 - Trouble In Paradise.**


	12. Chapter 12 - Et Tu Brute?

Hi, Totenwelt here.

Once again I'm done with another chapter of Afterstory (I'm still alive don't worry) Hope I didn't get too rusty on this chapter, but we shall see.

**PS:** to all the Spanish speaking fans of this fanfiction be ready for a full on Spanish translation of What A Beautiful Dream! courtesy of Rubytuny coming very soon. More on that later.

**Shoutouts:**

**Soulless Anti-Hero:**

Cheers mate!

**Bismillah-Kenyan-Rhapsody30A:**

Guten Tag, mein deutschsprachiger Freund!

**GoatreviewsStuff:**

Well, Here's the next chapter. Hope it'll be as good as the other chapters, and that it'll be to your liking. And thanks! I'm always glad to hear that my fanfiction is written realistically.

**Story begins here:**

Takasu silently sat at his school table observing the beautiful scenery of the clear blue skies that risen early in the morning that lied outside of the classroom windows. Despite his eyes being set on the skies lying dormant in front of him his mind was at a different place entirely. Indeed, he couldn't help but have his mind set only his light brown haired, dark ambered eyed girlfriend, however it wasn't about some love related reason as one would think with Valentine's Day being just around the corner, but rather it was worry, worry that had not gone away for a good day now. Even though nothing of note happened that day which would cause him to worry, he still couldn't shake off that feeling of there being something off about Taiga since some time ago. Dating someone for a year makes you recognize if someone is acting differently, and so he knew something was wrong right from the get go.

Unfortunately for him he couldn't find out the reason himself, so with a bit of a hesitation he decided to enlist the help of her best friend, who promised to try and find out the reason for why she was acting a bit off.

"_Hey Takasu, do you got time_?" Someone brought his mind from up the skies down to earth, that someone would be none other than the council president and his good friend Yusaku Kitamura. Ryuuji finally averted his gaze from the window and focused it on his friend. "_Sure, what is it Kitamura?_" Takasu asked, curious as to what he wanted to ask him, he expected it to be something school related by the tone he asked him. "_Nothing really, just wanted to ask how are things with you and Taiga, did you reached any conclusions?_" Kitamura asked back, hoping to hear that whatever was plaguing Takasu's and Aisaka's minds was gone since he was a friend to the both of them, and he wanted the best for them, but by Takasu acting so distant he figured that it was not.

"_I wish I knew, I asked Kushieda to try and find out but I didn't have a chance to talk to her in private since Taiga was always around her since morning_" Takasu explained as he turned his gaze to Kushieda and Taiga talking at their desks, the suspense was killing him. He wanted so badly to go ask her right there and then, but he knew that wouldn't be wise with Taiga around. Ryuuji looked back to Kitamura, who seemed to have been pondering over something.

"_Hmm, maybe I can try and lure her out whilst you go ask Kushieda, what do you say?_" Kitamura proposed the idea, hoping to finally help out Ryuuji and Taiga in some way, which sounded great to Ryuuji. That way he could go ask Kushieda right there and then without needing to wait until the class was over for Taiga to disappear.

"_Honestly, that's a great idea. Do you think you'd be able to do it right now?_" Takasu asked, sooner he could do it the better. Yusaku nodded in response. "_You got it, but don't talk for too long. I think you'll have 5 minutes at most._" Kitamura said, knowing that his time to talk to Kushieda would be limited Ryuuji begun thinking about what to ask her. In the meantime Kitamura begun walking towards Kushieda's desk where Taiga was hanging out at. Kitamura was thinking of what to ask Aisaka to distract her from talking with Kushieda for a bit, however he couldn't really think of anything on the fly, so he just decided to stall for a bit. "_Aisaka, Could you please come with me for a second?_" Yusaku asked in a cold monotone mode, stopping the conversation between the two girls who both now shifted their focus solely to him. Aisaka nodded in response. "_Sure, what is it?_" She asked, wondering what he wanted to discuss with her. "_Can we talk in private? I want to talk to you about something personal_" He replied with another question. Confused and a bit intrigued about what was all the secrecy needed for she decided to go along. "_Okay, Lead the way_" Taiga nodded as she followed Kitamura who begun walking away from the class and towards the school council room.

Seeing his chance Takasu quickly got up his feet and begun to quickly make his way towards Kushieda who was writing something in her notebook. "_Kushieda! So how did yesterday go?_" Takasu hurriedly asked, he couldn't bear to wait any longer for the answer since it's been constantly on his mind for a few days now but it was apparent what. Kushieda looked up to find out who was talking to her only to look away in silence, seeing this only made Takasu worry even more. Just as he was going to ask again he was cut-off by Kushieda. "_I'm sorry Takasu, I failed.._" Minorin whispered silently enough so that only Takasu could hear it. It was so infuriating to her that she just couldn't figure it out, but nonetheless she wouldn't give up until she found it, for both Taiga's sake and her pride.

Takasu hoped oh so much that it wouldn't be that answer, but at the same time he kind of expected it to happen. "_So I guess that's it then, we did all we could right?_" He asked, sad expression plastered on his face. Truly he was lost and clueless as to what to do, he knew that there was something wrong with her, he was certain of it! But alas, he thought he hit a dead end where he would just have to learn to live with the knowledge that there was something wrong and that he couldn't have helped it.

"_You're just give up like that?!_" Kushieda yelled angrily. She got offended over seeing Takasu give up like that without a fight, especially when it was for his girlfriend's sake. "_No, but I mean what can we do? I tried my best, and I believe you did too._" Ryuuji replied, he thought it over so many times, yet he couldn't think of any solution no matter what.

"_We keep on trying until we find out why, that's what we can do!_" Kushieda shot back with a fiery expression on her face. That hard-working stance and fiery attitude brought him back to the times when he still had a crush on her, if it wouldn't be for that crush he'd never have fallen for Taiga and vice-versa.

"_You're right, I'm sorry for-_" Ryuuji was silenced by the point finger of Kushieda's who wanted to hear none of it. "_If you want to apologize then help me fix it, deal?_" She asked him with the same vigour and a smile he knew so well, which was hard to not get inspired by. "_You got it Kushieda, but where do we start?_" Ryuuji asked back, somehow his sad thoughts disappeared in an instance as he got fired up to face the world and then some, Kushieda's positivity was really contagious by the looks of it. Kushieda pondered as she tried to come up with a good plan to start with.

"_Well, Valentine's Day is coming up so you should buy her some extra ordinary gift to show her that you care about her_" Minorin answered without second doubts, it was obvious something like that was in order when a relationship is getting bumpy, even a person like Kitamura who had little to none experience when it comes to relationship would tell you that. Question was though, what role would Minorin play in this? She figured Taiga's problem was something about her and Takasu what was the root cause, so she couldn't help in that department, however maybe she could help Takasu get there? "_Yeah I should do that, what do you think I should buy though?_" Takasu asked as he gave it a thought, he couldn't really think of anything to buy Taiga besides chocolates or some other cliche Valentine's gift, so he hoped Kushieda would have thought of something since she brought it up. "_I got no idea, but how about I help you choose? We both know her the best, I'm sure we can figure something out!_" Kushieda suggested whilst she was fired up, again she was in her element or was it just a facade? She wondered that too, before it might have been nothing but a facade but throughout the years it became a part of her. Plus who's to tell her what's the true Minorin and who's fake Minorin? "_That sounds like a good idea actually_" Takasu nodded "_Do you have time to go buy it today? The sooner we can buy it for her the better_" He asked. "_Sure I do, and even if I didn't I'd make time any day of the week since it's for Taiga!_" She accepted his offer as she gave him the thumbs up ecstatically. Takasu couldn't lie to himself, it was quite exciting for him to hear he'll be spending time with Kushieda, his past self when he had a crush on her would kill to be in his position, but he felt no feelings towards her any more, he had his Taiga afterall, but he was just happy to reconnect with a friend, or, so he thought. Ryuuji's ears perked up as he heard a pair of footsteps getting closer to the classroom, judging by one of the footsteps being very faint he soon enough realized it was Taiga and Kitamura returning. He quickly turned to Kushieda one last time "_Okay, meet me after school then_" Ryuuji whispered as he quickly bolted it back to his seat before Taiga could spot them talking.

Taiga opened the door and looked around the classroom, there, sat many of her classmates, but she was fixated on two in particular, her best friend Minorin who looked awfully happy compared to how she was before she left and none other than her great boyfriend Ryuuji. She finally wanted to spend some quality time with him and maybe even forget about her feelings if only for a while. Taiga would have her hands full, as she wanted to go on a date, finally cook something for him, and snuggle for a long time, A early Valentine's if you will. "_Ehm, Aisaka could you stop blocking the door? Students want to pass_" Kitamura fake coughed, breaking her sweet fantasies in the process. She looked at him with a grumpy look on her eyes, not only did he wasted like 5 minutes of her life berating her about coming late when she wasn't late that day, but now he woke her up from her beautiful day dream that she just had. However she didn't say anything and just walked back to her seat again whilst Kitamura walked back to his.

"_Sorry for leaving Minorin, Kitamura unnecessarily scolded me for something that happened yesterday_" She said to Minorin, filtering her anger through her words, but to her surprise she noticed that Minorin wasn't exactly listening as she remained still, watching the same spot she did before Taiga even entered the classroom, it seemed like she was oblivious to the fact that Taiga was there to begin with. She wondered what was Minorin thinking about, maybe since the Valentine's was coming up Minorin finally found a boy she liked! Or maybe she just got some good news! Either way it was a sign that that something good happened to her, and since they were practically twins when it came to how close they were when one felt happy or sad the other felt exactly the same, so in turn Taiga was happy as well.

"_Hey, Earth to Minorin!_" She asked a bit louder, which looked to have worked as Minorin zoned back in immediately and looked around confused.

"_Huh? Oh, hey Taiga! So how did it went?_" Minorin finally snapped back and understood what was going on. "_Well since you weren't listening the first time I'm going to repeat it for you_" Taiga replied to her request with a fake sass tone in her voice. "_Please do_" Minorin bowed down and begged her as she felt the embarrassment washing over her for not paying attention.

"_Well as I was saying, Kitamura scolded me for something that happened yesterday_" Taiga explained, Minorin once again scratched her chin looking like she was thinking about the reason why Kitamura scolded her but in reality she was wondering if Kitamura was in on helping them or if it was just a very big coincidence.

"_Maybe Kitamura was scolded by the teachers themself? Maybe that's why!_" Minorin made a plausible reason from the top of her head, as she couldn't think of anything else to say at that time plus it sounded good in her head.

However, this answer made Taiga physically look down herself in self-realization that her actions might have led to Kitamura having problem because of what she and Ryuuji did.

"_You're right, I should have been more considered_" She replied in a sad tone. Minorin damned herself in her head as she scrambled to save the situation. "_Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about it, if it was very serious the teachers would come straight to you! Plus, you know how he is. Ever since last year he began treating everything super serious, all eyes are on him so of course he has to act harshly!_" Minorin tried to salvage that conversation, and somewhat achieved that as Taiga nodded in response and smiled a bit, showing that her spirits were up again. Even so, that weird feeling remained in Minorin that told her that something's wrong, she began to feel it too, that feeling Takasu mentioned earlier, something akin to a sixth sense but when it comes to knowing there's something wrong with a person without any clue being present.

"_So, anyway what were you day dreaming about back then before I came in here?_" Taiga asked, curious as to what her best friend was infatuated by. Minorin looked away embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her head. "_Well I suppose it was just a beautiful dream_" She avoided the answer as she smiled dumbly at her best friend. But indeed, what a beautiful dream it was.

"_Oh C'Mon, Tell me! I always told you all my dreams and secrets!_" Taiga angrily begged her to finally tell her, the curiosity was killing her.

"_Nope! Not telling ya!_" Minorin shot back immediately, she wasn't telling her! Not now, not ever!

Taiga bugged her about it the whole time they were in class, but she didn't let her on.

Finally, the last bell rung, everyone from the class was glad that the school was over for the day, three in particular. All the students bowed down to show respect as the teacher ended the class and walked out of the classroom. As soon as she did the students relax and started talking between each other about what they were going to do after school. Taiga was amongst the people who was already thinking what she was going to do after school, her day-dreams once again got better of her. Oh, what her and Ryuuji awaited them home! Taiga already made list in her head of things to do in as soon as the two of them were alone. First she'd make the two of them some good food, which she learned to do from both watching and helping Ryuuji when he was cooking but also learning from Yusaku when Ryuuji was busy, because even though she usually didn't cook much when Ryuuji was around she still was a stellar cook, after all it was her who taught Ryuuji to cook so well. Then they would go watch a romantic film which Taiga borrowed from a Video Rental Shop some time ago, but they never had a chance to watch it because either one of them was always too tired to watch it, so they'd just cuddle until they both fell asleep. And lastly to cap it off well a passionate make out session until they fell asleep! Sure it wasn't anything too fancy, but Taiga loved those kinds of intimate moments than going into restaurants or what not, so much so in fact that she was turning red just from the anticipation of it all unfolding. In her day dreams Taiga didn't realize that quite a lot of students already exited the classroom or were about to shortly, so she quickly packed her bags like everyone else.

Finally, she couldn't wait to tell Ryuuji about all her plans she had for the two of them! She looked up to Ryuuji's seat only to see Minorin standing next to him.

It was a weird sight, she only rarely seen them alone together like that before when Ryuuji had a crush on Minorin or after they begun dating. Taiga felt conflicted, her heart didn't like the sight one bit but her mind told her that nothing was wrong, that they were only talking. Over the years Taiga learned to suppress those discomforting feelings whenever possible by either lashing out and acting violent but lately she began to bottle up those feelings for the best of everyone, since she didn't want to hurt anyone and especially her boyfriend. Taiga smiled faintly and walked up to the two, who were in a middle of a discussion that both of them were very interested in. Despite being right next to them the two didn't seen her, so they continued the chat. After a few seconds of not paying attention to her, Taiga quickly grew tired of it.

"_Hey, Ryuuji. Minorin!_" Taiga tried to finally catch their attention, which seemed to have worked as they stopped talking and switched their attention over to her. "Hey Taiga, what's up?" Minorin asked cheerily, who seemed extraordinarily happy that time. "_Oh, nothing I was just wondering what you two were talking about_" Taiga replied, she was both curious and worried about what they were talking about, she just had to know. "_We're talking about what gift he's going to give you on Valentines_" Minorin proudly exclaimed with completely assuring enthusiasm. Taiga stood there baffled, did she really just said that? It completely caught her off guard, not only did they start talking to each again, but they also were planning what gift he would buy her. "_Ryuuji, is that true?_" She turned her head over to him, hoping he'd have the answers she was looking for. He nodded. "_Yeah, Kushieda suggested it to me just now, and I thought it was a good idea._" Ryuuji softly lied, technically that was the truth, what she didn't know was just how much Kushieda was involved with Ryuuji. "_I see, well what do you plan to buy then?_" Taiga asked nonchalantly, not really paying full attention to what she was talking about because her mind was still busy trying to comprehend the situation. "_Sorry Taiga, but that's a secret! You've got to wait until Valentine's!_" Minorin cheerfully turned her down, of course she wasn't about to tell her. It was crucial that she wouldn't know, maybe if Ryuuji outdid himself with the gift Taiga would be fine again, and the awkwardness between the two would sizzle out. She told herself, maybe it was just a lie she told herself in order to keep pushing further, maybe it was the reality. It didn't matter, only thing that mattered was doing something about it, that had to be the right thing to do, right?

Taiga looked a bit disappointed, but not in a sulky way, rather in a sarcastic way. At least that was what Minorin and Ryuuji thought, on the inside however things a were a bit different. Sure, she still only played being disappointed but a part of her secretly was actually disappointed, though she didn't even realize it herself. What she did realize was that dark feeling she left before grown stronger by every passing second, she couldn't or rather didn't want to put her finger on it, so she decided again to ignore it, hoping it'd go away. "_What a shame_" Taiga jokingly replied, but she couldn't say that she wasn't curious as to what the two came up with. "_I know, but just you wait. I bet you're gonna like it a lot, Yours truly is going to help pick it_" Minorin boldly exclaimed with exaggerated pose to boot, which was but another one of her daily shenanigans. Even though she should have seen it coming Taiga still smiled, there was something so simply smile-inducing about seeing Minorin acting so eccentric, she envied her. Minorin could easily show her true feelings to everyone in her eyes, whilst she herself was never able to do that, even dating and living with Ryuuji made her only switch the way of hiding those feelings away, meaning the issue remained no matter what. "_I can't wait to see it then_" Taiga replied to her best friend as she turned her gaze over to her boyfriend. "_Hey Ryuuji, are you ready to go? I've got something planned out for us today!_" Taiga exclaimed with genuine happiness, thinking back about the daydreams she had about how they'd spend the time together, all of it was just a walk home away from happening, she couldn't wait!

Both Kushieda and Ryuuji looked at each other a bit horrified and shocked. Neither of them spoke a single word, yet they understood each other and the situation extremely well. They screwed up.

Taiga stopped daydreaming for a second when she noticed both of them looking at each other quite intensely with expressions were extremely stiff, not to mention Ryuuji hasn't responded yet.

"_Ryuuji?_" She called out her boyfriend again. He slowly tilted his head towards her, still thinking of what to tell her. "_Well, I-I uh was thinking we'd go and buy the present for you today_" Ryuuji bumbled over his words at first, but it got the message across to his Girlfriend.

Taiga just stood there for a second, not doing anything, just thinking, even though her mind was completely blank. She didn't know what to think any more, was she betrayed? was she not? What was she feeling? She couldn't tell anything any more, everything in her mind was conflicted and it didn't help that those dark feelings within her grew closer and closer every time she let them in. She was stuck in a cycle of her doubting herself and everyone around her, but then she'd realize that's not true, but then she'd doubt herself again continuing the loop. Taiga had no choice but to flush out all of these voices again and run away from them, but as the saying goes:

You can run away from your problems, but eventually they will catch up to you, stronger than ever.

Both Ryuuji and Kushieda flashed a quick look at each other when they saw Taiga just standing there, both of them were confused and concencered for her. "_That's okay, it wasn't anything important honestly._" Taiga replied stoically, breaking both of their thought process' as to why she froze up. Both of them were even more confused than before, if she was fine why did she froze up? They wanted to say that she faked it but it sounded too genuine.

Before Ryuuji could think of what to reply Minorin was already out shooting on all cylinders. "_You sure it's fine? We can just leave it up for some other day if you two want to do something, the store we wanted to buy it from is opened all, week_" Minorin hurriedly explained, trying to bait Taiga into changing her mind and doing whatever she planned to do with Ryuuji for she knew it was important to her. Taiga nonchalantly shook her head. "_I said It's fine, no worries_" Taiga shot back, there was not a single hint of her being upset or anything. Despite all of that neither Kushieda nor Ryuuji wanted to believe that was the case. At long last Ryuuji finally managed to speak up. "_Taiga, what do you say we just leave that present be for another day and just go home?_" Ryuuji suggested, calmly yet firmly. Any and all hesitation from his voice was gone. He had to be strong, for her.

However, his girlfriend once again shook her head. "_I told you two already, It's fine. Plus I can't wait to see the present that you two came up with, so please just do what you wanted to. I'll wait home on you, okay?_" Taiga once again shot down all the doubts the two were having about her, the truth of course was quite the opposite of what she was saying. Before either of them could figure out the truth Taiga planted a quick kiss on the cheek of unsuspecting Ryuuji in plain sight for all their classmates to see, and skedaddled away from the classroom. Ryuuji and Kushieda were left completely dazed and confused as to what just transpired.

**End of Chapter 5 - Et tu Brute?**


	13. Chapter 13 - Right Place, Wrong Time

This chapter is a tribute to my late Grandfather who just passed away last Friday. Originally this chapter was supposed to go live that weekend but this loss took quite a toll on me, so I apologize for taking a short break.  
I'm not really one to give advises about life but here I go: Even if you might not want to do it sometimes go and talk to your family, be respectful and nice to them, you never know if you'll ever see them again.

With all that being said I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Shoutouts:**

**Fanboy2112: **Thank you for enjoying my writing so much, and apologies for having to cut it there but I couldn't help but spice up the drama a bit more.

**Story begins here:**

As soon as Taiga disappeared behind the corner she dropped her facade, those feelings simply wouldn't go away no matter what. She knew that she didn't possess the strength to keep them in any longer, so to save at least the image of her being fine on the surface she had to disappear from the public's eye.  
So she ran, ran as fast as her legs carried her, hoping that maybe she could out run those unpleasant feelings that stabbed away at her heart. Truth be told she didn't have any sense of where to go, she knew it was too early for any of the classes to be empty, so she just kept on running, hoping to find some place else to shelter her vulnerabilities.  
Her reckless running in the halls caught the attention of a lot of students, one of them being none other than the Council President. Kitamura was on his way to the Student Council classroom with a handful of organization papers in hand which needed to be sorted out in said classroom, but as Taiga was passing by she accidentally tripped him which made said papers fall on the floor, making a giant mess in the hall.  
Of course, she had no idea and didn't realize that, or rather she was so focused on getting away from everyone that she simply couldn't realize what she just did at the time.  
Everyone turned their gaze from Taiga to the Kitamura who was on one of his knees, slowly getting up his feet.  
"_Hey President, are you okay?_" One of the students that was near him asked, He nodded his head in response as he got up." _Yes, I'm fine. No worries_" He replied, adjusting his glasses. He knew it was Taiga because he saw her contorted expression in a split-second right before he hit the ground. Kitamura knew that something had to went bad between her and Ryuuji. Of course, he couldn't ask Ryuuji since he didn't know exactly where he was and Taiga was still running wild, so he was out of luck when it came to figuring out what happened to her.  
"_Are you just going to let her run in the halls like that President?_" The same student who asked him if he was okay brought him back down to the reality. Kitamura thought hard about it, maybe finally he had the power to do some good for the couple, and to do his duties as a President at the same time. Excited, he turned to the student that suggested that to him. "_No I can't, I'll catch up to her and tell her to stop_" he replied as he looked to the direction where he seen her run off, of course he had no idea where she was going so his best bet was to just start running in the general area where she went, hoping he'd bump into her or into someone who knew where she was headed. So with that in mind, he took off.  
The student who suggested he should chase after her looked down at the papers, wondering who was gonna clean up that mess.

Kitamura sprinted through the halls, making sure to not bump into any students like Aisaka bumped into him earlier. As he was running he noticed some students picking up their belongings from the floor, it looked like he wasn't the only one who got swept up by her dash. Alongside that there also some small details that indicated that she ran through there like a small tornado, most noticible were the tipped over trash cans and papers from the board lying on the floor.  
He continued to follow Taiga's trail of destruction for a bit until the trail stopped right next to the staircase to the rooftop. Kitamura knew she had to be in there, so he climbed those stairs and walked to the entrance to the rooftop to investigate it, right before he entered it however he could hear a faint sobbing. He knew it was Aisaka.  
As soon as he entered the rooftop he was greeted by the beautiful spring skies covered in fluffy white clouds that graciously flew across the warm air, it was a breathtaking sight to behold.  
However, Kitamura wasn't there to look at the skies, he was a man on a mission, and he was about to get it done.  
Kitamura followed the weeping that emanated from behind the elevator shaft which lied around the corner of the rooftop entrance. He slowly approached the said corner of the shaft, to not make any noise He carefully peeked behind the corner to get a look at what Aisaka was doing.  
She was curled up in a ball, back pressed against the outside walls of the elevator shaft.

After he found the strength to confront her he finally appeared from behind the corner. Kitamura waited for her to notice him, but she was in her own world entranced to what was going on in the real world. "_Aisaka?_" Yusaku asked, breaking the silence and bringing Taiga back to reality.  
"_H-Huh? Kitamura?!_" She froze, Her tone changing mid sentence as she realized what was happening. She was mortified about the thought of showing her vulnerable self to the others, let alone of her friends. "_Hey Aisaka, I saw you frantically running through the halls, so I came by to check up on you._" He replied in a semi monotone voice. He approached that situation as he did with any other in the last year, slowly and methodically. He learned a lot from Sumire over the course of him acting as her Vice President, one of those things being that approaching things level-headed and with a neutral demeanor was the best course of action as acting with emotions only leads to you making irrational decisions, and he couldn't afford to make things worse than they already were.  
"_Leave me alone Kitamura_" She begged as she pushed her head further down her legs, as to hide her weeping face from further embarrassment. However Kitamura was adamant about staying, so he didn't respond and just simply sat next to her.  
"_We both know I can't do that, so tell me what's bothering you?_" He asked calmly, friendly even, hoping to finally get to the bottom of it all, but she had others plans.  
"_I said leave me alone!_" Aisaka yelled as she lunged at him with her fists, emotions clouding her judgement. By the time Kitamura realized what was happening it was too late to dodge, so he braced for the impact as he put his hands in front of his face to soften the blow. He closed his eyes and just waited for her to deal the finishing blow, and it did come but not in the way he thought it would.  
Kitamura opened his eyes only to see that the fist that was aiming for his face was stuck on one of his palms, as he looked further he realized what was going on. Through the adrenaline rush he didn't realize that Aisaka was crying heavily through all of this, even harder that she did before.  
He wondered if she stopped her fist because she just realized what she was about to do or because she didn't have enough strength, but that didn't matter what so ever in the end. What mattered was that she did the right thing.  
"_Please just leave me alone_" Taiga once again begged with tears free-falling from her eyes, this time with more desperation in her voice. Her fists dropped as so did her head.  
There was a long silence between the two, she was simply so mentally drained that she just wanted all of this to be over with, and he on the other hand didn't know what to say. Kitamura knew very well that he needed to think about his next words, he reckoned that he had the best way of both comforting her and getting the information out of her was to be honest with her.  
"_Tell me, what good would it do if I left you alone like this? Me, Kushieda and especially Takasu are all worried about you_" Kitamura asked, hoping to catch her attention in the right way. Taiga raised her head again in shock as her tears no longer appeared from her eyes. "_What do you mean?_" Aisaka stood there shocked, she didn't believe her ears.  
"_Takasu told me, he tried to find out what was going on with you but never could. Desperate, he came to me and Kushieda to help him figure it out_" Kitamura got right to the point as he explained further.  
Taiga once again stood there completely frozen from the sudden realization, she put her hands on her face as she shook her head. "_I'm so dumb_" she whispered as the tears resumed falling from her eyes.  
"_Hey, it's okay just calm down._" He reassured her by putting his hands on her small shoulder. He knew that he earned her trust by her not hiding her cries in front of him like she did before.  
"_Okay_" She whispered between her sobs, trying her best to calm down just like he said.  
"_So, would you now be able to answer my questions?_" He asked again boldly. However this time he was certain he would find the answer.  
She reluctantly nodded. Bingo.  
He nodded back as he sat against the wall just like she did earlier, minus being curled up in a ball part of course. He patted at the ground beside him, signaling for her to come sit down as well. Kitamura hoped that it would make this whole experience less awkward and less intimidating by both of them being on the same level.  
She sat down beside him and fixated her eyes on the ground because she felt too embarrassed to look him in the eye after what just transpired.  
"_Okay, so let's get the obvious out of the way. Tell me. what's this all about?_" Kitamura shot right off the bat, the million dollar question everyone was wondering about. He was determined he could get to the bottom of it then and there.  
"..." Taiga remained silent, on a second thought she decided she didn't want to answer his questions anymore.  
"_C'mon Aisaka, please?_" He verbally begged her to tell her, but again she remained silent. Taiga put her face closer to her knees since she was getting more embarrassed by every passing second. Then out of nowhere she pushed herself over the line to finally spill the beans.  
"_I-I guess I'm not happy with myself? I always feel so bad when I'm around Ryuuji because he just does everything for me, whilst I'm just a burden to him. I don't deserve him, I always just get in the way, I'm annoying, clingy, jealous..._ " Her self-hating ramble filled her mind yet again, however this time they were disrupted by Kitamura who put his hand on her shoulder.  
"_Hey, Stop that._" He heard enough. "_Do you really think that Takasu feels like that about you? He always talks about how wonderful you are when we're at school_" He said calmly yet sternly. Taiga raised her head up and looked at him shocked. "Really?" She thought that Ryuuji had enough of her, that she was nothing but a burden that he wanted to get rid of, but the reality was quite the opposite.  
"_Yeah, never once did I hear a bad word about you. He clearly cares a lot about you, plus from how I know him I would say he doesn't mind taking care of the house on his own one bit, I wouldn't say you're a burden to him at all._" Kitamura tried to help Aisaka get her mind out of the gutter. "_You're right, how could have I been so stupid?_" She again put her head towards her knees as she begun to weep uncontrollably. Kitamura feeling bad put his arm around her shoulder again, this time to comfort her, it seemed like she only needed someone to push her in the right direction and tell her that It's all fine. Taiga let her tears fall down her face as her mind was cursing itself for doubting her boyfriend and how he feels about her. After a few silent seconds between the two her weeping came to an end, Kitamura didn't dare to speak during that time for he found it inappropriate. As soon as she did think she got up her feet and wiped those tears with a handkerchief Takasu gave to her that day.  
"_Thanks, for making me feel better, I really needed that_" Taiga turned to him and smiled. It was really contagious since he smiled back as soon as he saw it. Finally! He was able to help out the couple by fixing their relationship, he felt really proud about it.  
"_Well It's my duty as a friend and as the president to hear you out and help you out, anyway I can._" He explained humbly. Taiga nodded as she came closer, she really wanted to get across how much he helped her, so she hugged him, not thinking much of it.  
At first, he stood there in shock, at first not hugging back. But soon enough he just went with the flow and hugged her back.

Ryuuji looked at the door of his classroom in disbelief, he was still entranced what just transpired and how his attempt to make things right backfired big time, making everything all the worse. So many thoughts raced through his head: If he just asked her what's going on would she give him the answer? Was his actions right? Was he even a good boyfriend to begin with? And most importantly of all: Was that the start of the end for their relationship?  
His eyes dropped down onto the ground where they stared into nothingness, his mind retreating into a dark place full of insecurities and pain.  
"_Hey, are you okay Takasu?_" Kushieda shook his shoulders, bringing him back to reality. She was quite worried about him since the expression he gave off was quite scary to her.  
"_No, I'm just sort of lost right now. I ruined everything again._" Ryuuji replied in a sad tone. In his mind he wanted to know so badly what was Taiga so bothered by, but he realized that it had to be he himself, and no one else.  
"_You didn't ruin anything, if anyone is here to blame It's me. If I didn't talk about it so nonchalantly maybe this all wouldn't happen_" Kushieda shot back, she hated seeing Takasu blaming himself like that, so she tried to convince him into believing what she already held as a undisprovable fact: that it was all her fault.  
However blaming herself didn't fix anything as he just kept looking down without replying, or even acknowledging her being present, retreating back into the back of his head like he did before.  
Kushieda tried to break the ice, to fix everything that just happened. And after thinking about it for a little while she finally figured out a feasible solution! It was so simple yet so effective.  
It was the thing Takasu should have done in the first place, find Taiga, ask her what's going on and act on it accordingly. It wasn't a foolproof plan by any means, she could easily just lie and or run away again like she did before but it was their best bet going forward, sometimes the most obvious choices are the right one.  
Minorin once again turned to Takasu who was off staring into nothingness once more, she waved her hand in front of his face but to no avail. "_Hello? Earth to Takasu?_" Minorin asked, trying to get his attention. As soon as Ryuuji heard his name being mentioned he immediately zoned back in.  
"_Y-Yeah? Sorry, I-I uh lost myself in thought again_" He stuttered out an apology to Kushieda as he was caught with his pants down.  
"_It's fine, just listen to me for a second please?_" Kushieda accepted the apology as she begged him for his attention. Ryuuji nodded in response, he was all ears to what she wanted to talk about.  
"_Alright, I know what you might be going through right now, blaming yourself about everything, but we, and especially you have to put that aside and act!_" She rallied him up again, with the same passion that she always carried around her whenever she was fired up about something. But even that didn't have much effect on him from the looks of it.  
"_But how? We tried everything and failed_" He replied, still with a defeated tone already thinking of it as a lost battle. Normally this would warrant Kushieda to be angry, and understandably so, but she knew it was key to keep her cool for the moment.  
"_Elementary dear Watson. It's one thing we haven't yet tried: Confronting her about it._" She briefly explained with a jokey remark to lighten up the mood a little. "_But I already tried that_" Ryuuji said once again in a defeated tone. Minorin knew she had to turn it around to lift up Takasu's spirit, that without it'd be pointless to try and fix anything with Taiga if he himself wasn't 100%  
"_That's true, but maybe you were a bit too pushy about it or something, what if you tried it again this time being honest about everything? Like how you feel, how it affects you, and all that If you told her all of that she'll open up to you I guarantee you that!_" Minorin exclaimed with a burning passion in her voice, that same passion finally somewhat inspired Ryuuji because of her promise of hope, making him feel better about the whole situation, but he was still a bit skeptical about it.  
"_You really think so?_" He asked, hoping to get a answer of the same attitude to push him over the edge to do the right thing.  
"_Of course! It's better than sitting here doing nothing, that's for sure. now go!_" Kushieda recognized that she was pushing him in the right direction so to get him to the finish line she ordered him to finally make that final leap.  
"_You're right, I need to go and fix this.._" Ryuuji gave in, the promise of hope was simply too good sounding to pass it up. He got up his feet and started walking towards the exit of the classroom, of course he wasn't about to leave without thanking the person who lifted his spirits up in the first place. "Thanks again for helping me, You really helped me out a lot" Kushieda simply gave thumbs up as she smiled at him, he nodded back in respect before exiting the classroom in search of his girlfriend.  
Ryuuji entered the halls with a new vigor he got through Kushieda's help.  
He was finally ready and willing to go the way and reach out to his girlfriend to see what was wrong, but obviously he needed to find her first, which in it of itself wasn't hard as a path leading right of the classroom was a chaotically disorganized mess.  
It reminded Ryuuji of Taiga back when they didn't date yet and how wild she sometimes became, he put the two and two together that she most likely ran through there like a wind during a storm, so he picked up his pace and followed the path of chaos.  
After a while Taiga's trail went cold as the path ahead of him were too clean for her to storm through, however right before the path disappeared there was the staircase to the right of him, meaning she most likely went to the rooftop.  
Wasting no time he scaled the stairs in hopes of finally putting this all to rest and behind them, that he and Taiga could once again be normal lovers like they used to be before all this happened.  
Ryuuji finally made it up to the roof, there he heard two voices having a conversation, one being a female and one being a male. He recognized one of them immediately as being Taiga's, he'd recognize that voice anywhere, but he couldn't tell who was the other person that easily, so he decided to find out for himself.  
Ryuuji popped up behind the corner of said elevator shaft, finally hoping that he could talk to his girlfriend in peace to resolve the issues the two of them were facing, however what he seen petrified him.

Taiga and Kitamura were hugging like they were lovers. As Ryuuji's mind recognized what was going on, the time for him froze.  
Finally, it all made sense to him, she wasn't feeling under the weather or anything like that she was just fed up with him, so she got together with Kitamura behind his back, that was why he was so eager to help them out. In a matter of milliseconds his world shattered right in front of him, his mind going back to that dark place yet again and this time he knew he'd stay there for a while.

After a few seconds of hugging both Taiga and Kitamura noticed Ryuuji standing there, looking at them like he saw a ghost, before any of them could say anything to him he ran away as fast as his legs carried him. Right there Taiga realized why he ran away. "_Ryuuji! Wait!_" she quickly separated from Kitamura as she ran towards Ryuuji to explain the misunderstanding, but it was simply too late.

**End of Chapter 6 - Right Place, Wrong Time.**

**To be continued.**


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